m 


m 


m 


J 


^ 


DARRYLL  GAP; 


OE, 


WHETHER    IT    PAID. 


BY 

VIRGINIA  F.  TOWNSEND. 


But  who  can  so  forecast  the  years, 
Or  seek  with  gain  his  loss  to  match, 
Or  reach  a  hand  through  time  to  catch 

The  far-off  interest  of  tears  ? 

TENNYSON. 


BOSTON: 
WILLIAM    V.    SPENCER, 

203  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

1866. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  .by 

WILLIAM    V.   SPENCER, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts 


Stereotyped  at  the  Boston  Stereotype  Foundry, 
No.  4  Spring  Lane. 


Presswork  by  John  Wilson  and  Son. 


TO 


MY  BOOK,  AXD  WITH  IT  ALL   OUR  MEMORIES 

OF    TWO    SUMMERS   AT    THE 

MOUNTAINS. 

V.  F.  T. 


DAERYLL  GAP; 


OK, 


WHETHER    IT 


CHAPTER    I. 

"  AND  so  we  are  now  really  rich  folks  !  Just  to  think  of  it !  " 
said  the  first  voice,  a  young,  eager,  feminine  one,  pendulous  be- 
twixt wonder  and  exultation. 

"  I  tell  you,  though,  boys,  won't  it  be  fun  to  spread  ourselves 
on  lunches  at  the  Astor  and  Delmonico's  ?  "  said  the  second 
voice,  with  a  certain  gruffness  all  through  it,  and  a  chuckle 
through  the  gruffness. 

"  Yes,  father,"  subjoined  Mrs.  Darryll,  more  from  that  habit 
of  admonition  which  is  apt  to  manifest  itself  in  the  mother  of  a 
large  household,  than  from  any  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  good 
fortune  which  had  fallen  so  suddenly  into  the  lap  of  her  family. 
"  You'll  have  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout,  or  your  boys  and  girls  '11 
make  the  money  fly  faster  than  you  can  bring  it  in.  It's  my 
opinion  that  they'd  use  up  a  mint  in  a  short  time,  if  they  were 
free  to  get  at  it." 

Mrs.  Darryll's  voice,  about  on  a  level  with  its  sentiments  and 
general  style  of  expression,  was  a  fair  interpretation  of  the  wo- 
man herself,  a  well-meaning,  tolerably  kind-hearted  one,  bound 
up  in  a  good  many  prejudices,  with  no  great  force  of  character, 
a  narrow  range  of  living  and  feeling,  and  a  good  deal  of  un- 
conscious selfishness. 

1*  (5) 


6  DARRYLL    GAP,   OB 

Whatsoever  virtues  she  possessed  flourished  iu  her  domestic 
atmosphere,  for  she  was  a  devoted  wife  and  mother ;  but  she 
had  not  sympathies  of  heart  or  intellect  wide  enough  to  grasp 
much  outside  of  her  family. 

"  I've  no  doubt,"  said  Tom,  whose  years  divided  equally  the 
interval  betwixt  his  second  sister  and  third  brother,  "she'll  keep 
the  old  bag  of  coppers  in  a  corner  of  the  cupboard,  and  expect 
we'll  go  to  her  regularly  on  training  days  for  our  allowance 
of  three  cents  to  invest  in  gingerbread,  molasses  candy,  and 
peanuts." 

There  was  a  chorus  of  laughter  among  the  boys,  showing 
that  Tom's  wit,  at  his  mother's  expense,  was  highly  appreciated. 

Andrew,  the  eldest  of  the  brothers,  slapped  the  other  approv- 
ingly on  the  back,  and  said,  "  That's  jolly ! "  which  adjective 
expressed  with  him  a  high  sense  of  satisfaction  ;  and  then  Tom 
was  universally  regarded  as  the  wit  of  the  family. 

"  Boys  !  boys  !  "  said  the  head  of  the  household,  standing 
with  his  back  to  the  fire,  and  his  hands  behind  him.  Pie  was 
in  such  an  immensely  good  humor  to-night,  that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  put  anything  more  than  a  mild  flavor  of  objur- 
gation in  these  monosyllables. 

There  he  stood,  in  his  small  back  parlor,  a  well  enough 
looking  man,  somewhat  stout,  but  alert  withal,  good  strong 
features,  and  gray  eyes,  in  which  there  was  a  shrewd  twinkle, 
and  dark  hair  glazed  with  gray,  for  the  owner  was  a  little  this 
side  or  the  other  of  his  half  century. 

Ella,  the  second  daughter,  and  first  speaker,  had  expressed  in 
those  words,  "  To  think  we  are  really  rich  people  !  "  the  feeling 
that  was  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  John  Darryll  and  each 
member  of  his  family.  It  carried  with  it  an  entirely  new  sen- 
sation. No  wonder  they  were  a  little  dizzy  and  dazzled. 

"  It  seems,  somehow,  too  sudden  and  strange  to  be  true,  just 
like  a  beautiful  dream  that  one  loses  sight  of  the  first  moment 
one  wakes  in  the  morning,  or  like  those  old,  foolish,  delightful 
'  Arabian  Nights,'  with  Aladdin's  lamp  shining  through  them 
all.  I  used  to  draw  a  long  breath,  squatted  down  with  my 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  7 

book  on  my  knees,  before  the  fireplace  in  the  old  house,  and 
rub  my  eyes  hard,  and  the  beautiful  visions  would  all  vanish, 
and  there  was  nothing  but  the  great  black  chimney,  and  the 
crane  with  the  hooks  on  it.  Won't  this  grand  fortune  of  ours 
do  the  same,  pa?" 

I  think  if  "  one  who  was  born  blind,"  or  any  keen  interpret- 
er of  the  meaning  and  spirit  of  voices,  had  listened  to  each  of 
the  family's,  he  would  have  chosen  this  as  the  one  that  suited 
him  best.  A  young  voice,  like  the  first  speaker's,  and  with 
some  general  likeness  of  tone  betwixt  them,  clear,  animated, 
but  with  a  certain  steadiness  and  sweetness,  which  gave  it  an 
individuality  of  its  own  amongst  the  others. 

"  I  fancy  not,  my  daughter."  This  expression  was  the  ten- 
derest  in  which  Mr.  Darryll  ever  indulged,  the  highest  devel- 
opment in  speech,  at  least,  of  his  paternal  feeling.  "  I  should 
be  likely  to  see  that  there  was  something  more  solid  than  the 
lamp  of  a  —  what-you-call-'em,  at  the  bottom  of  my  enter- 
prises !  "  rubbing  his  hands  with  a  pleasant  accession  of  self- 
importance,  and  a  very  imperfect  comprehension  of  his  daugh- 
ter's allusion. 

"But  Aladdin's  lamp  wasn't  so  much  out  of  the  way,  after 
all,  for  your  enterprises  have  a  decidedly  '  oily '  foundation, 
father  !  "  interposed  here  the  wit  of  the  family. 

There  was  a  laugh  now,  in  which  every  one  joined,  for  they 
were  all  in  a  humor  to  enjoy  any  jest  on  the  one  topic  of 
interest,  and  were  not  disposed  to  be  very  critical  respecting 
the  quality  of  the  wit. 

As  these  people  are  all  assembled  in  family  conclave,  and 
with  that  freedom  of  speech  and  manner  which  best  reveals 
one's  individuality,  there  is  no  better  time  than  the  present 
to  introduce  them  to  you. 

Mr.  John  Darryll  is  the  generic  success  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  He  began  life  as  a  common  chore  boy  on  a  farm, 
coming  of  poor,  but  honest,  homely  stock.  His  ambition  never 
took  kindly  to  farm  work,  though  he  owed  to  that  his  stub- 
bornly healthful  constitution.  He  married  his  wife,  a  fresh, 


8  DAERTLL   GAP,   OR 

comely  country  girl,  with  no  more  fortune  than  himself;  but 
both  were  industrious  and  prudent,  and  John  Darryll  managed 
with  the  toil  of  his  hands  to  make  a  little  home  of  his  own, 
and  here  his  six  boys  and  girls  were  born  to  him  with  one  or 
two  years  ranging  betwixt  their  ages. 

After  a  while  he  sold  his  small  farm,  invested  his  little  for- 
tune in  a  dry  goods  and  grocery  store  in  a  neighboring  town, 
and  the  next  ten  or  twelve  years  he  had  a  sharp  struggle  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  his  growing  family,  and  gradually 
enlarge  his  stock  of  goods. 

At  last  he  grew  sick  .of  such  a  "  one  horse  concern,"  as  he 
inelegantly  termed  his  business,  sold  out,  and  came  to  the  city 
to  try  his  fortunes.  It  was  a  dangerous  experiment  for  a  man 
in  his  forties,  and  with  so  many  young  mouths  depending  upon 
him  for  bread.  He  tried  several  sorts  of  business,  agencies, 
clerkships,  and  the  like,  and  could  only,  as  Mrs.  Darryll  was 
forever  assuring  her  children,  "  keep  his  head  above  water." 

In  the  luckiest  hour  of  his  life,  however,  as  he  at  least  regard- 
ed it,  he  was  induced  to  close  up  a  bargain  for  a  tract  of  land  in 
Pennsylvania,  which  a  business  acquaintance  let  him  have  "  for 
a  mere  song,"  as  the  former  was  anxious  to  go  west.  The 
whole  property  covered  a  narrow  valley,  choked  in  between  two 
high,  rugged  hills,  and  was  known  thenceforward  by'the  name 
of  "  Darryll  Gap."  When,  however,  several  years  more  went 
by,  and  nobody  took  the  acres,  Mr.  John  Darryll  thought  that 
he  had  made  a  poor  investment,  even  at  the  low  price  at  which 
he  obtained  them,  and  fretted  over  the  two  or  three  hundred 
dollars  that  were  buried  in  the  Gap.  » 

But  one  day  petroleum  oil  was  discovered  on  a  creek  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  acres.  That  discovery  sent  up  the  land  in  a 
few  days  a  thousand  fold.  Experiments  proved  it  fine  boring 
territory.  A  company  was  organized  immediately.  The  wind 
of  fortune  shifted  at  last,  and  sent  favoring  gales  towards  John 
Darryll.  In  less  than  three  weeks  after  the  petroleum  was  dis- 
covered on  Darryll  Gap,  he  disposed  of  it  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  That  was  several  years  ago,  and  the  oil 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  9 

speculation  had  not  yet  reached  its  climacteric.  If  he  had 
•waited  a  couple  later,  he  would  probably  have  realized  half  a 
million  from  the  sale  of  his  "  piece  of  land,"  as  he  had  begun 
rather  contemptuously  to  term  it.  And  so  on  the  evening  of 
the  day  in  which  the  sale  had  transpired,  Mr.  Darryll,  a  good 
deal  excited  and  dizzy  with  his  sudden  elevation,  stood  in  the 
midst  of  the  family,  who  had  been  informed,  from  the  begin- 
ning, of  the  successive  steps  of  his  good  fortune.  His  wife,  a 
blooming  matron,  sat  near  him  with  her  knitting  lying  in  her 
lap,  quite  too  much  excited  this  evening  for  even  such  play- 
work  as  finishing  off  a  mitten.  Her  features  still  retained 
something  of  the  comely  freshness  which  attracted  her  husband 
in  the  days  when  he  drove  the  cows  every  night  to  her  father's 
barn-yard  ;  and  her  dark  abundant  hair,  which  was  the  vanity 
of  her  girlhood,  did"  not  necessitate  a  cap  yet,  though  it  was 
slightly  sanded  with  gray. 

The  boys  and  girls  muster  in  equal  force,  half  a  dozen  in  all ; 
the  former  in  different  periods  of  adolescence  —  hearty,  healthy, 
with  heads  that  promise  well  undar  the  right  sort  of  develop- 
ment, but  with  a  coarseness  of  speech  and  manner,  a  kind  of 
"  Young  America "  assertion,  which,  disagreeable  as  it  was, 
would,  one  charitably  hoped,  be  outgrown  with  completed  man- 
hood. There  was  no  doubt  that  all  these  were  bright  and 
capable  youths,  and  each  one  promised  to  share  in  the  general 
good  looks  of  the  family. 

Agnes,  the  youngest  of  the  girls,  was  just  outside  her  fifteenth 
birthday.  Jerusha,  the  eldest,  was  almost  twenty-two ;  and 
Ella  was  nineteen,  with  her  brother  Andrew  a  year  her  senior, 
as  Guy  was  of  his  sister  Agnes,  while  Thomas  was  late  in  his 
teens ;  and  the  whole  family  from  the  father  downward  had  a 
tendency  to  look  younger  than  its  years. 

Ella  was  supposed  to  be  rather  the  beauty  of  the  family. 
She  had  more  bloom  than  either  the  eldest  or  the  youngest  sister, 
with  her  mother's  features  and  brilliant  eyes.  She  had  a  good 
deal  of  outward  brightness  aud  swift  perception,  and  a  certain 
•  peremptoriness  of  manner  which  always  demanded  as  a  right 
something  which  others  conceded  to  it. 


10  DARRTLL    GAP,   OR 

Agnes,  in  some  sense  the  pet  of  the  family,  was  pretty  much 
her  mother  over  again,  with  larger  opportunities,  both  social  arid 
educational,  and  with  somewhat  more  emphasis  of  character. 

Jerusha,  the  eldest  girl,  had  been  named  in  memory  of  her 
grandmother  ;  but  partly  because  the  first  syllable  gave  it  so  old- 
fashioned  a  sound,  and  partly  because  of  indolence,  it  had  been 
elided,  and  she  was  universally  known  in  the  family,  and  out  of 
it,  as  "Rusha,"  the  name  at  least  having  the  merit  of  not  being 
common.  She  had  a  clear,  pale  complexion,  dark  brownish 
eyes,  wonderful  at  times  for  their  beauty,  and  the  mouth  would 
have  been  too  large  had  it  not  been  for  its  vivid  color.  This 
girl  was  not  like  any  of  her  brothers  and  sisters.  Faults  and 
weaknesses  she  had,  like  all  the  others,  and  the  atmosphere  of 
her  home,  the  daily  tone  and  spirit  of  the  household,  was  not 
one  to  stimulate  her  finest  and  best  possibilities.  But  she  had 
deeper  enthusiasms,  loftier  appreciations  and  ideals,  than  any  of 
the  rest.  Her  intellect  was  of  a  finer,  higher  order  than  any 
other  member  of  the  family's,  the  eldest  daughter  being  regarded 
as  a  little  of  a  "  blue  stocking,"  or  a  little  romantic,  or  both. 

"  And  now,  pa,"  said  Ella,  in  her  bright,  peremptory  way, 
"  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  all  this  money?  " 

"  O,  I  presume  that  I  shall  find  ways  to  employ  it,"  trying 
to  appear  dignified,  and  succeeding  in  being  important  and 
pompous. 

"  But  people  will  expect  something  of  us  now,  you  know,  pa, 
very  different  from  what  we  have  been." 

"  Of  cotirse  they  will,  pa,"  chimed  in  Agnes,  who  was  sway- 
ing backwards  and  forwards  in  her  low  rocking-chair.  "  We 
must  make  a  show  with  it !  " 

"  That's  it ;  put  the  thing  pat,"  interposed  Guy,  the  youngest 
of  the  brothers. 

"  "What  sort  of  a  show,  then?"  asked  Mr.  Darryll,  looking 
round  pleasant  and  patronizing  upon  his  assembled  household. 

Ella  undertook  to  explain.  "  Agnes  is  right,  pa.  It  won't  do 
for  us  to  live  in  this  miserable  hand-to-mouth  way  any  longer." 

And  the  speaker  looked  around  the  family  sitting-room,  with 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  11 

its  neat  and  comfortable,  but  by  no  means  elegant  furniture, 
with  eyes  that  the  new  fortune  had  greatly  enlightened  as  to  its 
shabbiness. 

"  We  must  have  a  new  house  up  town,  or  on  Fifth  Avenue, 
and  it  must  be  furnished  in  the  latest  style,  with  velvet  carpets, 
and  tall  mirrors,  and  rosewood  furniture,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing.  In  short,"  waxing  energetic  as  she  proceeded,  "  every- 
body will  hear  that  you  have  suddenly  become  a  nabob,  and  I 
think  we'd  better  cut  a  dash  at  the  beginning  —  don't  you, 
Rusha?" 

"  Ye-es,"  answered  the  eldest  sister,  her  imagination  revel- 
ling, after  the  fashion  of  youth,  in  a  dazzling  perspective  of 
splendor  and  luxury,  and  yet  not  quite  enjoying  the  way  in 
which  Ella  had  "  put"  their  transition  from  one  life  to  another. 

"  And  I'll  cut  old  Holmes  and  his  counter  from  this  hour," 
stoutly  asseverated  Guy,  who  was  errand  boy  in  a  grocery 
store,  and  he  rose  up  and  strutted  about  the  room  with  a  great 
accession  of  importance,  beginning  to  realize  the  fact  that  he 
was  now  a  rich  man's  son. 

"  And  pictures,  and  a  library,  and  a  conservatory  —  0,  pa, 
will  it  not  be  our  Aladdin's  palace  after  all !  "  It  was  Rusha 
who  spoke  again,  the  young,  eager,  delighted  soul,  just  as  much 
rapt  up  in  the  dazzling  visions  that  this  wealth  conjured  as  any 
of  the  others,  only  seeking  its  chief  enjoyment  on  somewhat 
higher  levels  than  they. 

"  The  sooner  we  are  out  of  this  life  the  better,"  continued 
Ella.  "  How  I  shall  enjoy  seeing  some  of  our  neighbors  stare  ! 
only,  of  course,  we  must  drop  our  old  associates.  It  will  never 
do  to  carry  them  into  the  best  society,  which,  of  course,  will 
open  its  doors  to  us  now." 

"But  must  I  give  up  Gracie  Thorpe  too,  sister?"  interposed 
Agnes,  with  a  faint  little  note  of  regret  in  her  voice,  as  though 
this  sacrifice  of  her  friendship  to  her  fortunes  was  a  side  of  the 
picture  that  she  had  not  before  contemplated. 

"  No,  indeed,"  said  Rusha,  fervently  ;  "  be  loyal  to  your  one 
friendship,  even  if  your  father  has  made  a  fortune." 


12  DAEETLL   GAP,    OR 

"  Ella  will  be  the  one  that'll  put  on  airs.  Won't  she  spread 
it  on  thick,  though,  boys?"  laughed  Andrew. 

His  sister  was  quite  equal  to  defending  herself,  and  begged 
him  to  remember  that  whatever  he  had  been,  he  was  to  turn 
over  a  new  leaf  now. 

"  And  do  let  a  fellow  come  in  for  his  share,"  said  Guy,  the 
youngest  of  the  brothers.  "  I  move  that  we  keep  horses,  not 
merely  for  the  girls  to  go  shopping  and  making  calls  with,  but 
to  let  us  fellows  show  you  what  horseback  riding  is  !  " 

"  I  expect,"  said  his  father,  who  enjoyed  his  children's  "  non- 
sense," as  he  called  it  to  them,  because  it  served  in  some  sense 
to  give  tangibility  to  his  wealth,  "  that  Guy  will  be  the  fast 
young  man  of  the  family  !  " 

Tom  insisted  that  he  was  going  to  see  something  of  the  world. 
Everything  in  New  York  had  got  to  be  an  old  story  to  him. 

"  Perhaps  we'll  go  to  Europe  one  of  these  days  —  O,  Tom  ! " 
exclaimed  Rusha,  with  that  indrawn  breath  of  hers  that  was 
her  strongest  exclamation  point  of  enjoyment ;  "  what  must  it 
be  to  feast  one's  self  on  those  treasures  of  art,  to  see  Mont  Blanc, 
find  sail  down  the  Mediterranean,  and  wander  among  the  ruins 
of  old  Rome,  and  enrich  one's  whole  soul  with  a  sight  of  that 
old  world  (hat  would  be  new  to  us." 

"  And  then,"  interposed  Ella,  "  it's  extremely  fashionable  to 
go  abroad.  'When  I  was  in  Paris,'  has  a  distinguished  sound  ;  " 
and  she  poised  that  pretty  head  of  hers  in  a  way  that  would 
have  been  amusing  if  it  had  not  been  sad  also. 

"  There,  boys,  didn't  I  tell  you  so?  Just  see  the  airs  now  ! " 
said  Andrew,  with  a  chuckle,  hitting  his  brother  Tom  under 
the  ribs. 

Ella  turned  on  him  this  time  with  a  good  deal  of  vehemence, 
and  she  did  not  confine  her  expostulations  to  himself,  but  made 
them  include  the  trio  of  brothers. 

"  I  do  hope  you'll  remember,  all  of  you  boys,  to  make  some 
improvement  in  your  manners,  and  leave  your  vulgar  slang 
phrases  behind  you  with  your  poverty.  Do,  if  it's  possible,  try 
and  be  gentlemen." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  13 

"  I  intend  to  be  my  own  master,"  replied  Tom,  "  gentleman 
or  no  gentleman.  It'll  be  fun  not  to  have  old  Jerome  scolding 
and  cussing  because  I  haven't  got  the  office  fire  going  in  time. 
Nothing  to  do  now." 

"  Boys,"  said  Rusha,  "  your  education  has  been  neglected, 
you  know.  Now  I  think  you'd  better  go  to  work  the  first  thing 
and  improve  yourselves  —  prepare  for  college,  for  instating." 

"  Time  enough  to  think  about  that  next  year,"  added  Andrew. 
"  After  a  fellow's  been  a  slave  all  his  life,  he  likes  to  have  a  lit- 
tle taste  of  laziness  and  fun." 

"  That's  so  !  "  fervently  indorsed  Tom. 

"  And,  pa,"  piped  up  Agnes,  "  shall  we  really  have  a  car- 
riage and  horses  to  ride  up  to  Stewart's  and  out  to  Central 
Park,  and  a  driver  too,  with  a  black  band  round  his  hat,  and 
one  of  those  odd  cloaks  with  the  funny  little  capes  like  deep 
ruffles?" 

"  Of  course  we  shall,"  said  Ella,  without  waiting  for  the  pa- 
ternal affirmative.  "  And,  pa,jiow  you've  got  the  money,  the 
sooner  you  get  out  of  this  place  the  better,"  with  a  gesture  ex- 
pressive of  unutterable  contempt  at  the  room  and  its  appoint- 
ments. "  I  really  want  to  knol^what  it  will  be  to  live  in  a 
grand  house,  and  keep  a  carriage,  and  have  servants  to  wait 
upon  one,  and  plenty  of  money  to  spend." 

"  So  do  I,  quite  as  much  as  you,  Ella,"  said  the  elder  sister's 
voice,  with  a  little  natural  quaver  of  gravity  in  it.  Rusha  was 
always  in  earnest  about  whatever  she  said.  "  Only  I  want  we 
should  take  our  new  life  upon  us  with  grace  and  dignity,  and 
not  have  people  to  whom  riches  is  no  novelty  quietly  sneer 
about  us  as  '  mushroom  aristocracy.'  Don't  let  us  make  ourselves 
ridiculous  in  any  way." 

"  Of  course  not,  Rusha.  But  I've  no  doubt  that  there  will 
be  plenty  of  '  sour  grapes '  talk  about  us.  However,  I  think  I 
can  stand  my  ground,"  looking  defiant  and  self-assertive. 

"  But,"  interposed  Mrs.  Darryll  at  last,  for  the  juvenile  por- 
tion of  the  family  had  monopolized  all  the  talk  during  the  last 
hour,  while  the  elders  had  listened  in  a  kind  of  half-pleased, 
2 


14  DAERYLL   GAP,   OE 

half-bewilldered  acquiescence  to  the  plans  and  visions  of  the  fu- 
ture, —  "  but  you  know  I  haven't  been  used  to  this  sort  of  style 
that  you  talk  about,  and  I  shouldn't  know  how  to  preside  at  din- 
ner parties,  and  give  swarees  —  don't  you  call  them,  Rusha?  I 
should  make  a  balk  of  it." 

"  O,  ma,  those  things  will  come  in  naturally  enough  —  don't 
be  alarmed,"  said  Ella,  comforting  and  patronizing. 

"  I  saw  a  book  on  etiquette  down  town  at  a  stand  ;  I'll  bring 
it  home  for  the  edification  of  the  family ;  and  we'll  all  take 
turns  studying  it,"  laughed  Andrew,  getting  up  and  stretching 
his  limbs. 

"  I  say,  boys,  who'll  be  the  lady  of  the  family?  "  This  ques- 
tion was  from  Guy,  surveying  his  trio  of  sisters  critically. 

"  Our  Ella  will  carry  it  off  with  a  high  hand.  Won't  she  sail 
round,  though,  under  diamonds,  and  feathers,  and  a  rustle  of 
silk  ?  —  whew  !  "  added  Andrew,  this  closing  monosyllable  giv- 
ing tenfold  emphasis  to  what  went  before. 

"But,"  said  Tom,  with  whom  his  eldest  sister  was  a  favorite, 
"  after  all,  Rusha  '11  be  the  real,  genuine  article,  boys.  She 
won't  have  so  many  airs  and  flourishes,  maybe  ;  but  somehow 
the  big  house,  and  the  carriage,  and  all  those  things  '11  seem  to 
come  natural  to  her,  just  as  if  she'd  been  used  to  'em  all  her 
life  —  see,  now,  if  I  ain't  right !  " 

Tom  had  his  reward,  although  it  did  not  come  with  any 
words  ;  but  Rusha  turned  and  smiled  on  him,  with  such  a  grate- 
ful appreciation  of  a  compliment,  whose  flattering  delicacy  he 
himself  only  half  comprehended,  that  Tom  felt  doubly  fortified 
in  his  opinion. 

Ella  looked  the  least  bit  aggrieved.  "  See  if  I  don't  do  credit 
to  my  new  home  when  I  get  there  ! "  she  said. 

And  in  a  certain  and  outward  sense,  she  would.  There  was 
a  great  deal  of  adaptation  about  the  girl,  and  she  had  that 
quick  perception  and  self-reliance  which  would  avail  her  vastly 
in  her  new  position  and  circumstances. 

"When  we  get  there,"  duplicated  Andrew  —  "that's  the 
rub  ;  the  governor  hasn't  promised  to  buy  the  big  house  yet." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  15 

"  0,  but  you  will,  pa !  you  won't  disgrace  your  family  by 
keeping  us  in  this  horrible  hole  any  longer,  now  you've  got  the 
money  to  put  us  in  a  decent  one  ?  " 

"  Why,  you  said  that  it  was  a  really  charming  house  when 
we  moved  up  here  last  spring  from  the  old  place,"  answered 
Mr.  Darryll,  without  any  definite  intention  of  denying  his  daugh- 
ter's request,  but  only  because  it  gave  him  a  pleasant  sense  of 
power,  to  be  appealed  to  on  so  large  a  scale. 

"  But  we  were  poor  folks  then.  Don't  you  see  the  differ- 
ence, pa?  " 

"  I  should  think  he  ought  to,  after  the  way  his  boys  and  girls 
have  gone  on  to-night,"  interposed  Mrs.  Darryll. 

"  O,  well,  mother,  let  'em  alone.  You  and  I  were  young 
folks  once,  and  built  our  castles,  too,"  rubbing  his  hands  briskly 
together,  as  John  Darryll  never  did,  except  when  he  was  in 
a  mood  of  extreme  good-nature. 

"  But,  pa,  we  must  have  the  house,  you  know ;  our  hearts 
are  all  set  upon  that."  It  was  Rusha  speaking  here. 

"  Well,  I'll  see,  if  I  have  time,  about  hunting  up  some  real 
estate  broker  to-morrow.  One  of  your  big  houses  up  town  will 
make  a  hole  in  the  money,  and  your  father  isn't  worth  a  mint." 

"  Yes,  but  he  is  worth  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  Just 
think  of  it !  " 

Ella's  figures  sounded  very  large  and  extremely  pleasant  in 
the  ears  of  all  her  family,  and  her  father  evidently  considered 
them  a  convincing  argument,  for  he  made  no  reply,  and  they 
all  knew  that  the  "  house  up  town  "  was  gained. 

Mrs.  Darryll  drew  a  long  sigh.  "  I  must  say,  one  thing  '11 
seem  good  to  me,"  she  said,  in  a  tone  of  mild  self-gratulation  — 
"  I  shan't  have  to  spend  all  my  Saturdays  darnin'  stockings. 
I've  dreaded  for  years  to  see  'em  come  in  from  the  wash. 
Growin'  boys  are  so  hard  on  heels  and  toes  !  " 

There  was  a  chorus  of  shouts.  "  If  I  was  in  Japan,  now," 
said  Ella,  "  I  should  know  that  speech  came  from  ma  !  That's 
her  greatest  source  of  delight  in  our  new  fortune." 

"  And  do  you  remember,  ma,"  said  Rusha,  "  the  old  silk  you 


16  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

had  turned  and  dyed  for  me  when  I  was  sixteen  ?  It  was  your 
wedding-dress  ;  and  how  proud  I  was  of  it,  for  it  was  my  first 
silk  !  If  we  could  only  have  looked  forward  to  this  time  !  But 
I  wonder  if  I  shall  ever  be  prouder  and  happier,  in  the  new  ele- 
gant dresses  I  expect  to  have,  than  I  was  in  that  old  one  !  " 

It  was  Rusha's  words  and  sentiments  which  always  struck 
the  highest  or  tenderest  chords  in  the  family  heart.  A  little 
tremulousness  went  over  the  mother's  face  at  this  allusion  ; 
then  the  tears  came.  "  Ah,  John  !  "  she  said,  with  a  sort  of 
long  sob  betwixt  all  the  words  — "  do  you  remember  that  night 
we  were  married,  and  how  my  father  surprised  and  overjoyed 
us  both  by  putting  a  ptrse  in  my  hand  with  a  hundred  dollars 
in  it,  to  set  us  up  in  housekeeping  ;  —  and  with  what  you  had 
to  add  to  it,  it  made  the  little  home  down  there  by  the  green 
look  real  snug?  "We  had  happy  times  then.  I  wonder  if  they'll 
be  better  in  the  big  house  we're  to  have !  " 

They  were  all  touched,  more  or  less,  by  the  mother's  words. 
A  new  expression  came  over  the  father's  hard,  shrewd  face. 
"  Well,  Lydia,"  he  said  softly  and  kindly,  "  we've  had  a  good 
many  years  of  hard  pulling,  and  we've  weathered  some  pretty 
tough  squalls  together ;  it's  only  fair  you  and  I  should  have  a 
little  comfort  at  last." 

I  think  any  wise,  true  soul,  who  estimated  life  and  the  things 
that  belong  to  it  at  their  real  value,  would  have  been  unspeak- 
ably saddened  at  the  spirit  in  which  this  household  received 
the  riches  which  had  so  suddenly  fallen  into  its  possession  —  a 
thing  to  take  delight  in,  to  rejoice  over,  most  certainly,  but 
also  to  make  one  grateful  and  humble  as  before  God. 

But  here  there  was  no  thought  of  Him  in  all  the  new  joy  and 
exultation  —  no  sense  of  vastly  increased  responsibilities  —  of 
talents  given,  to  be  required  again  —  no  entering  into  the  sol- 
emn depths  and  meaning  of  those  words,  "  Mine  own,  with 
usury !  " 

The  spirit  in  which  this  household  received  its  new  gift  was 
utterly  of  the  earth,  earthy.  The  living  in  a  fine  house,  the 
"  making  a  show,"  the  new  importance  which  it  should  give 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  17 

them  among  men  and  women,  was  their  chief  thought  and 
delight,  which  was  weak  and  vulgar  enough  at  the  best,  and  at 
the  worst  was  selfishness  and  sin. 

Alas  for  those  boys,  coming  up  into  manhood  —  alas  for 
those  girls,  in  the  blossoming  of  girl  and  womanhood,  with  the 
new  power  and  the  new  influences  for  good  thrown  suddenly 
into  their  unused  hands,  and  with  no  thought  beyond  the  pleas- 
ures, and  luxuries,  and  idlenesses  in  which  it  should  indulge 
them ! 

If  John  Darryll,  the  "  oil  speculator,"  the  man  whom  they 
said  on  "  'Change  "  had  done  a  "  big  thing,"  had  gathei'ed  his 
family  about  him  that  night,  and  thanked  God  for  this  new 
wealth,  how  different  it  would  all  have  been ! 

But  amid  the  general  rejoicing  there  was  no  thought  of  a 
thank-offering  to  the  Giver  —  no  purpose  of  doing  good  with 
the  new  power  and  influence  as  each  "  found  opportunity." 
And  seeing  of  how  low,  and  coarse,  and  material  a  sort  was  the 
spirit  in  which  the  Darrylls  took  their  wealth,  and  the  use  they 
intended  to  make  of  it,  one  could  not  but  wonder  whether  the 
money  would  prove  a  blessing  or  a  curse  to  them. 

Rusha  presented  the  brightest  feature  in  the  picture.  In 
almost  every  speech  of  hers  that  evening  was  manifested  a  finer 
and  loftier  spirit  than  in  the  others.  But  perhaps  she  would 
never  find  any  greater  enjoyment  in  this  wealth  than  in  the 
new  conditions  of  art,  the  new  forms  of  intellectual  and  aesthetic 
cultivation,  in  which  she  could  now  indulge. 

This  was  vastly  more  commendable  than  the  mere  sensuous 
gratifications  and  petty  ambitions  in  which  her  brothers  and 
sisters  took  delight.  But  would  Rusha's  influence  end  there? 
Had  she,  with  all  her  finer  feelings  and  deeper  enthusiasms, 
convictions  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  general  influences 
of  her  family,  and  of  the  social  atmosphere  about  her?  She 
was  young,  impulsive,  full  of  faults  and  weaknesses,  and  her 
early  training  had  never  stimulated  or  braced  the  highest  quali- 
ties of  the  girl.  Was  it  not  probable  that,  in  the  pride  and 
glamour  of  the  new  life,  she  too  would  become  a  weak,  selfish, 
2* 


18  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

fashionable  woman  ?  And  for  those  boys,  —  one  trembled  for 
them.  It  was  at  just  the  most  dangerous  time  of  their  lives 
that  the  money  had  fallen  to  them  ;  temptation  and  allurement 
of  every  sort  would  now  open  to  their  youth,  and  there  was  in 
their  father's  house  no  safeguard  of  prayer,  no  God  in  all  their 
thoughts. 

And  yet  John  Darryll  secretly  believed  himself  full  as  good, 
or  a  little  better  than  most  men.  In  a  general  way,  and  after 
the  fashion  of  the  world,  he  was  honest"  in  all  his  dealings,  and 
meant  to  do  right ;  and  alas !  how  many  of  those  successful  oil 
speculators,  who  have  reaped  harvests  of  fortunes  during  the 
last  years,  were  better  or  wiser  than  this  man  or  his  household  ? 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  19 


CHAPTER    II. 

"  WE  have  had  new  neighbors  during  your  absence.  Fletcher," 
said  the  young  lady,  passing  her  brother  his  second  cup  of 
coffee,  just  replenished  from  a  costly  but  old-fashioned  service 
—  so  much  of  the  latter  as  to  give  it  a  certain  sacredness  of 
family  tradition  and  association. 

"  Neighbors,  Angeline  !  What  a  flavor  of  the  country,  and 
of  homely,  primitive  ways  and  times  that  word  has  !  I  thought 
it  had  grown  obsolete  here  in  New  York." 

"  I  believe  you  are  right ;  I  used  the  word  for  want  of  a 
better." 

"  And  in  which  house  are  these  new  '  neighbors '  of  ours 
domiciled?" 

"  In  the  brown  stone  one,  almost  directly  opposite." 

"  Who  and  what  are  they  ?  " 

"  Mushroom  aristocracy,"  answered  the  other  lady,  who%  sat 
at  the  table,  and  who  was  both  sensible  and  satirical. 

The  lady  behind  the  coffee-urn  smiled.  "  It's  true,  Fletcher, 
as  Sicily's  severest  irony  always  is.  The  head  of  the  family 
has  made  a  fortune  in  some  lucky  oil  speculation,  and  it's  quite 
apparent  from  various  indications  that  the  first  article  of  their 
faith  in  money  is  to  make  a  display  with  it.  These  people  do 
on  all  occasions.  They  keep  a  carriage,  and  a  groom,  and  a 
butler,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing;  but  all  this  sets  on  them 
with  an  air  of  freshness." 

"  You  and  Sicily  must  have  observed  them  narrowly  !  " 

"  How  can  one  help  it,"  said  the  last-named  sister,  "  when 
one  lives  opposite?  And  then  it's  sort  of  refreshing  to  see 
these  people,  and  how  they  carry  the  new  fortune." 

"It  must -take  away  one's  breath  a  little,  this  stepping  at 


20  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

once  into  riches ;  but  after  all,  one  can  bear  it  well  enough,  if 
the  head  be  sound,  and  above  all,  if  the  heart  be  good." 

"I'm  afraid,"  said  Sicily,  without  any  irony  this  time,  "  that 
there's  a  little  weakness  in  both,  in  the  case  of  the  people  oppo- 
site. The  mother,  a  good-looking  matron  on  the  whole,  but  a 
little  dowdy  and  overdressed,  gets  into  her  carriage  every  morn- 
ing with  an  air  of  self-consciousness  that  would  not  be  possible 
with  a  lady  who  had  kept  a  carriage  and  a  groom  all  her  life. 
The  father  is  a  stout  man,  a  little  beyond  his  prime,  with  a 
shrewd,  business  sort  of  a  face,  and  a  little  pompousness  of  gait, 
that  I  fancy  is  an  accessory  of  his  fortune.  Then  there  are 
several  boys,  that  smoke  cigars  and  swing  ornamental  canes 
with  a  flourish,  and  I  think  bid  fair  to  become  fast  young  men." 

"  The  right  sort  of  experience  will  take  all  that  out  of  them. 
However,  it's  the  most  dangerous  period  of  their  lives  to  tide 
them  over,"  answered  the  young  man,  speaking  more  to  himself 
than  to  his  sisters. 

"  In  a  different  way,  it  is  hardly  less  so  for  the  girls,  I  think," 
replied  the  lady  who  had  last  spoken. 

"  There  are  girls,  then  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  young,  blooming,  pretty ;  I've  made  out  three  of 
them,  who  usually  go  out  with  mamma.  The  youngest  is  a 
little  girl  still,  with  a  face  after  her  mother's  pattern,  adding 
somewhat  more  of  force  and  refinement,  and  the  others  are  in 
the  early  blossom  of  womanhood,  neither  out  of  their  teens,  I 
should  think  —  pretty,  showy  girls,  who  doubtless  will  spend 
papa's  money,  and  be  the  finest  illustration  in  dress  and  man- 
ners of  his  new  wealth." 

"  Fletcher,"  said  the  elder  sister,  with  a  little^  smile,  "  doesn't 
this  breakfast-talk  of  ours  sound  very  much  like  gossip  ?  " 

"  I  was  about  to  remark  again  that  you  must  have  established 
a  very  persistent  espionage  from  your  chamber  windows,  to  be 
so  well  enlightened  with  regard  to  the  characters  and  habits  of 
your  neighbors." 

"  Now,  Fletcher,  who  is  ironical  ? "  said  the  younger  sister, 
with  a  little  pout  which  sat  prettily  on  the  red  bloom  of  her  lips. 

"Was  it  I,  or  the  truth,  that  made  the  irony,  Sicily?    But 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  21 

an  interest  in  others  may  have  its  rise  in  some  of  the  kindliest 
feelings  of  our  nature,  and  whether  this  talk  of  ours  be  gossip, 
depends  upon  several  things  —  the  spirit  in  which  it  goes  on, 
and  to  whom  it  is  addressed." 

"  And  then,  how  can  one  live  opposite  people  for  five  months, 
as  we  have,  and  have  daily  glimpses  of  them,  without  reaching 
some  conclusions  regarding  their  breeding,  characters,  and  so  on  ?  " 

"  Quite  true,  Sicily  ;  and  people  who  have  made  fortunes  of 
a  sudden,  and  ascended  from  comparative  poverty  into  riches, 
are  interesting.  One  likes  to  watch  the  individualities  crop 
out,  to  observe  how  they  carry  their  wealth,  and  in  what  ways 
and  to  what  extent  their  fortunes  improve  them.  And  with  our 
peculiar  national  development,  and  the  new  avenues  of  enter- 
prise laid  open  here  to  all  men,  our  American  people  are  on 
every  hand  jumping  into  fortunes.  How  will  these  men  who 
have  made  their  '  pile '  —  how  will  their  wives,  and  sons  and 
daughters,  use  this  new  power  placed  in  their  hands,  is  a  ques- 
tion which  has  vast  meanings  and  relations.  Will  they,  as  a 
class,  do  any  good  with  their  wealth  ?  Will  they  make  a  thank- 
offering  to  God  of  any  portion  of  it?  Will  it  make  them 
stronger,  nobler,  better  men  and  women  because  their  spheres 
of  influence  are  so  much  enlarged  —  because  they  touch  life  on 
so  many  sides?  Or  will  the  voice  of  their  soul  be  the  old  one 
— '  I  will  pull  down  my  barns  and  build  greater '  ?  "  He  mur- 
mured over  the  last  words  to  himself,  as  he  pushed  back  his 
chair  from  the  table. 

These  three  comprised,  with  a  couple  of  domestics,  the  family 
of  Fletcher  Rochford.  He  was  at  this  time,  at  least,  thirty-three 
years  old,  a  physician,  a  man  of  fine  talents,  of  wide  and  varied 
cultivation,  for  he  had  had  large  opportunities  of  study  and 
travel.  His  father,  engaged  in  commerce,  had  been  regarded 
as  a  rich  man  in  his  day,  although  he  could  hardly  have  been 
so  in  the  present  one  ;  but  he  was  a  liberal  and  intelligent 
man,  and  spared  no  expense  in  the  cultivation  of  his  sons  and 
daughters. 

Mrs.  Rochford  was  a  woman  of  unusual  graces  of  mind  and 
heart ;  but  she  died  before  her  sou  had  graduated,  although  she 


22  DAEETLL    GAP,    OR 

lived  long  enough  to  impart  the  lasting  influences  of  her  fine  and 
forcible  character  to  all  her  children,  and  each  one  would  have 
been  different  without  just  such  a  mother. 

After  he  had  studied  his  profession,  the  young  physician  went 
abroad,  and  was  summoned  home  the  third  year  by  the  sudden 
death  of  his  father. 

And  from  that  time  Fletcher  Rochford  had,  in  some  sense, 
taken  the  place  of  his  parent  to  his  sisters.  There  had  always 
existed  among  the  members  of  this  family  a  singularly  deep 
and  beautiful  tenderness,  and  as  they  could  not  endure  the  pros- 
pect of  separation,  and  as  the  brother's  profession  made  it 
almost  a  necessity  that  he  should  not  locate  in  the  old  county 
town  of  his  birth,  the  young  people  removed  to  New  York. 

Dr.  Rochford  was  ardently  attached  to  his  profession,  espe- 
cially to  certain  branches  of  surgery,  and  his  skill  in  these 
afforded  him  a  practice  almost  unparalleled  in  the  case  of  so 
young  a  man.  At  the  close  of  his  fifth  year  in  New  York,  he 
again  visited  Europe,  and  was  absent  somewhat  less  than  a 
year,  engaged  in  investigations  and  discoveries  more  or  less 
intimately  connected  with  his  profession,  and  the  talk  at  the 
breakfast-table  transpired  on  the  third  morning  after  Dr.  Roch- 
ford's  return. 

His  sisters  Angeline  and  Sicily  had  only  a  faint  family  like- 
ness to  each  other.  Angeline  was  seven  and  Sicily  nine  years 
their  brother's  junior.  Both  had  the  fine  family  features,  with 
the  bright  eyes  and  delicate  bloom  of  the  lips.  Angeline's  eyes 
were,  however,  like  her  brother's,  of  a  gray,  luminous  brown, 
and  Sicily  had  her  father's  keen  bine  ones. 

The  sisters  differed,  too,  in  character.  Nobody  would  be 
likely  to  know  either  well  without  loving  her.  Angeline's  was 
a  strong,  sweet,  womanly  nature ;  Sicily  was  bright,  impulsive, 
with  a  natural  gift  for  satire  that  her  kindly  heart  tried  to  dis- 
cipline, and  that  played  usually  harmless  as  heat  lightning  about 
her  talk. 

Both  of  the  sisters  were  eminently  fitted  to  adorn  society,  for 
to  their  cultivation  and  varied  accomplishments  they  united 
social  gifts  of  no  ordinary  kind.  But  they  both  had,  too,  their 


TETHER  IT  PAID.  23 

mother's  home  tastes,  and  found  beneath  their  own  roof  their 
highest  satisfaction.  Books  and  art  in  various  forms  absorbed 
much  of  their  time.  And  then  they  were  the  dispensers  of  a 
large  amount  of  unobtrusive  charities  —  charity  of  that  sort 
which  requires  personal  cognizance  of  its  beneficiaries,  and 
which  therefore  goes  the  farthest  and  is  the  most  helpful. 

So,  to  a  large  degree,  both  of  the  young  ladies  abjured  fash- 
ionable society,  but  they  had  an  inner  circle  of  friends  of  the 
best  sort  —  men  and  women  earnest,  cultivated,  of  real  worth 
of  heart  and  mind. 

I  have  not  left  Fletcher  Rochford  to  the  last  because  I  re- 
garded him  as  the  least  important  member  of  the  family.  Nei- 
ther inside  of  it,  where  his  word  was  law,  nor  in  the  world 
where  he  moved  in  varied  relations  among  men  and  women, 
was  he  so  estimated.  As  for  his  sisters,  they  both  regarded 
him  with  a  sort  of  idolatrous  affection ;  indeed,  few  brothers 
have  been  what  this  one  had  in  care  and  tenderness  since  the 
day  of  their  father's  death. 

In  person  he  was  rather  tall,  slender-limbed,  with  a  strong, 
manly  face,  but  very  far  from  a  hand-some  one.  Near-sighted, 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  wearing  spectacles,  through  which  one 
only  caught  occasionally  the  flash  of  those  gray,  dark  eyes. 
The  general  habit  of  Fletcher  Rochford' s  face  was  grave ;  but 
his  smile,  if  it  once  came,  entered  your  heart  like  sunlight. 
Naturally  of  a  fiery  temper,  and,  he  said,  of  a  domineering 
and  exacting  spirit,  these  qualities  had  been  modified  and 
sweetened  by  deep  Christian  convictions  and  life. 

Fletcher  Rochford  had  certainly  some  peculiar  temptations 
to  intellectual  pride  and  inordinate  self-esteem,  but  his  faith,  and 
the  daily  life  he  lived  "  as  unto  God,"  kept  him  in  great  meas- 
ure from  what  would  probably  otherwise  bave  been  his  "  beset- 
ting sins." 

Have  I  made  him  clear  to  you  —  this  man  of  strong,  keen, 
cultivated  mind,  of  broad  and  generous  sympathies,  all  that  was 
in  him  harmonized  by  his  simple,  vital  Christianity? 

In  their  style  of  living,  the  Rochfords  were  extremely  unos- 
tentatious. The  tastes  of  the  whole  family  were  of  that  simple, 


24  DABBYLL    GAP,    OK 

quiet  sort  which  avoids  all  display.  So  far  as  was  possible  in 
a  city,  they  conserved  old  home  habits  and  style  of  living ;  but 
there  was  a  fine  harmony  in  the  appointments  of  every  room 
which  would  have  pleased  the  eyes  of  an  artist.  Pictures, 
bronzes,  statuettes,  made  color  and  grace  everywhere.  There 
was  a  small  conservatory,  where  birds  sang,  and  which  made 
a  bit  of  summer  through  every  winter,  and  pretty  brackets  in 
corners,  and  baskets  over  which  vines  and  mosses  trailed,  and 
paintings,  gems  of  color  and  bloom,  feeding  the  eye  and  educat- 
ing the  taste  into  a  finer  and  deeper  enjoyment  of  all  the  beauty 
which  its  Maker's  hand  has  scattered  broadcast  upon  the  Avorld. 

"  O,  Fletcher  !  you  don't  know,  you  dear  old  fellow,  half  how 
good  it  seems  to  get  you  back  here  again ! "  exclaimed  Sicily 
Rochford,  in  her  pretty,  impulsive  fashion,  as  her  brother  rose 
up  from  the  table,  and  turned  to  the  mantel  to  examine  a  small 
box  of  geological  specimens,  which  he  had  disinterred  from 
one  of  his  trunks  the  night  before. 

"Does  it,  my  dear  girl?"  bending  down  and  kissing  both 
cheeks.  "  I  bear  you  witness  that  there  has  not  been  a  morn- 
ing nor  evening  in  the  whole  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  in 
which  I  have  been  absent  from  you,  that  I  have  not,  in  spirit, 
sat  down  at  this  table  with  you  and  Angeline." 

,*'  And  during  any  one  of  those  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
mornings  and  evenings,  if  you  had  walked  suddenly  in,  you 
would  have  found  plate  and  napkin  laid  for  you  in  your  old  seat 
as  they  were  this  morning,"  said  the  elder  sister.  "  We  kept 
that  back,  though,  in  all  our  letters,  to  tell  you  on  your  return." 

The  doctor  had  removed  his  spectacles,  and  there  was  a 
sudden  flash  and  melting  of  his  eyes. 

"  O,  Angeline  !  "  There  was  a  little  pause  here.  "  If  you 
had  written  me  that,  girls,  added  to  all  you  did  say,  and  my 
inexpressible  longing  to  see  you,  I  doubt  whether  I  should  not 
have  taken  the  next  steamer  for  home." 

"  And  missed  your  sail  on  the  Nile  and  your  sight  of  the 
Pyramids  !  "  interposed  Sicily. 

"  Even  so,  for  a  sight  of  your  dear  faces,"  drawing  both  of 
these  close  together,  and  holding  them  within  his  two  palms 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  25 

until  the  girls   cried  out  that  he  was    pinching   their   cheeks 
unmercifully. 

"But,"  said  Augeliue,  "you  will  never  be  quite  Fletcher 
again  until  you  get  rid  of  some  of  that  tan  which  makes  you 
look  like  an  East  Indian  —  and  O,  Sicily,  here  is  a  gray  hair ! " 
running  up  her  soft  fingers  among  the  thick  brown  locks. 

"  It  is  not  the  first  one,  O,  Angeline.  You  know  we  come 
of  a  race  whose  locks  grow  white  early." 

"  Yes,  and  I  read  in  Godey's  Lady's  Book  the  other  day  that 
gray  hairs  were  ornamental,"  said  Sicily. 

"Then  I  shall  cherish  mine.  Well,  girls,  what  are  your 
plans  for  this  morning?" 

"  They  are  briefly  told.  You  are  to  have  the  easy  chair  by 
the  grate-fire  in  the  sitting-room,  and  Sicily  and  I  are  to  sit  by 
you,  and  hear  the  rest  of  your  adventures  in  Rome  and  your 
ascent  of  Mount  Vesuvius." 

"  And  do  you  know,"  interpolated  Sicily,  with  her  little 
bright  twinkle  of  a  laugh,  "  that  it  struck  me  this  morning 
at  breakfast  as  absurd  enough  to  find,  after  a  whole  year's 
absence,  and  with  so  much  to  hear  and  tell  both  on  Fletcher's 
side  and  on  ours,  that  we  could  find  nothing  better  to  talk  of 
than  the  people  who  live  opposite,  with  whom  we  have  never 
exchanged  a  syllable  —  whose  names  even  we  do  not  know  ! " 

"  The  fact  might  suggest  some  interesting  discussion  in  men- 
tal philosophy,  but  we  will  not  enter  that  field  this  morning." 

"  I  hope  not,"  said  Sicily,  making  a  wry  face  out  of  her  fair 
one.  •  "  I  want  you  to  carry  us  into  physical,  not  metaphysical, 
scenery  for  the  present." 

He  laughed,  pinched  her  cheek,  and  sat  down,  running  his 
fingers  through  his  hair,  as  was  a  habit  of  his,  and  recalling  his 
journey  through  Italy. 

Just  then  Angeline  brought  her  father's  Bible,  and  laid  it  on 
her  brother's  knee. 

"  We  have  a  double  reason  to  read  and  give  thanks  now," 
she  said,  her  hand  dwelling  a  moment  fondly  on  his  shoulder. 
And  he  knew  that  it  was  for  his  sake  she  said  it. 
3 


26  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    III. 

As  a  general  thing,  people  ascend  very  smoothly  and  natu- 
rally into  good  fortunes.  It  is  much  harder  and  slower  to  learn 
how  to  bear  and  use  poverty  than  it  is  wealth. 

The  Darrylls  formed  no  exception  to  this  rule  ;  and  in  a  very 
little  while  that  sense  of  novelty  in  contemplating  their  wealth, 
which  incarnated  itself  in  Ella's  "  To  think  we  are  rich  people 
now  !  "  had  quite  worn  oif.  Riches  seemed  indeed,  the  natural 
element  of  these  people,  in  which  they  could  disport  themselves 
as  smoothly  as  fish  in  waters,  and  the  memory  of  the  old  days 
of  anxiety  and  comparative  poverty  grew  to  each  member  of 
the  family  very  much  "  like  a  dream  when  one  awaketh." 

Paterfamilias  had  invested  a  considerable  slice  of  his  for- 
tune in  a  five-story  brown  stone  palace,  on  one  of  the  most 
fashionable  streets  up  town.  The  upholstering  was  of  the  very 
latest  style  —  damask  and  velvet,  gilt  and  rosewood  —  a  little 
too  showy,  perhaps,  for  people  who  liked  quiet  tones,  but  iu 
very  good  taste  after  all  —  everything  of  this  sort  being  referred 
to  the  decision  of  the  elder  sisters,  and  the  whole  appointments 
forming  a  kind  of  compromise  betwixt  the  tastes  of  the  two  — 
Rusha's  inclining  always  to  dark,  plain  tones  in  everything,  and 
Ella's  to  higher  and  more  salient  ones. 

For  the  rest,  they  kept  their  fine  carriage,  their  blood  horses, 
their  liveried  coachman.  They  had  servants,  and  silver,  and 
whatsoever  else  they  regarded  as  indispensable  to  illustrate  their 
new  wealth  and  importance.  Mrs.  Darryll  rustled  in  brocades 
and  point  lace.  These  seemed  to  justify  the  air  which  she  felt 
it  incumbent  on  her  to  cultivate  in  the  new  home,  whose  honors 
she  always  did  with  a  little  inward  trepidation. 

It  was  an  easy  matter,  of  course,  for  the  whole  family  to 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  27 

obtain  the  "  entree "  of  the  best  society,  as  they  termed  the 
fashionable  people  who  called  in  carriages  and  left  cards  for 
soirees. 

Ella  affiliated  at  once  with  all  the  gayeties  and  excitements  of 
fashionable  life.  She  fairly  radiated  at  balls,  operas,  and  grand 
parties,  and  always  proved  herself  equal  to  the  occasion.  She 
was  of  just  the  material  of  which  belles  are  made  —  dashing, 
showy,  vivacious.  Her  dresses  gave  promise  of  equalling  in 
number  and  style  Queen  Elizabeth's  traditional  wardrobe,  and 
were  always,  from  bonnet-string  to  .shoe-tie,  of  the  latest  and 
most  expensive  sort. 

With  the  elder  sister  it  was  somewhat  different.  That  she 
enjoyed  to  the  full,  as  was  natural  to  her  age  and  circumstances, 
this  new  life  of  elegance  and  luxury,  could  not  be  for  a  moment 
disputed.  Who  would  not?  The  riches  that  enable  one  to  touch 
life  on  so  many  new  sides,  that  open  to  it  so  many  new  ave- 
nues of  beauty  and  enjoyment,  are  pleasant  and  to  be  desired. 
Jerusha  Darryll  had  her  diamonds,  her  fine  laces,  her  multiform 
and  costly  dresses,  like  her  sister.  She  joined  more  or  less  in 
the  gayeties  of  the  season,  and  the  circle  amid  which  she  was 
thrown  ;  but  after  all,  there  was  a  difference.  Ella  was  always 
"  raving,"  as  her  brother  Andrew,  somewhat  contemptuously, 
termed  her  chatter,  about  the  opera.  Rusha's  highest  enjoy- 
ment was  in  pictures  and  sculpture,  above  all  in  the  little  alcove 
library,  with  its  dark-grained  cases  of  books,  and  its  pearly- 
tinted  walls  hung  with  little  gems  of  color  and  fine  engravings, 
where  she  passed  with  her  books  several  hours  of  every  day. 

Ella  dabbled  in  French  because  it  was  fashionable.  Rusha 
had  several  masters,  and  devoted  herself  to  varied  forms  of 
study,  simply  for  the  love  of  it. 

Agnes  aspired  to  "come  out"  as  soon  as  they  were  estab- 
lished in  their  new  home  ;  but  this  was  overruled  by  her  sisters, 
and  the  eldest  daughter  represented  to  her  parents  in  such  forci- 
ble terms  the  importance  to  their  youngest  daughter  of  strict 
devotion  to  study  during  the  next  three  or  four  years,  that  her 
father  resolutely  placed  Agnes  at  a  day-school,  and  her  mother 
insisted  on  a  prompt  attendance. 


28  DAERTLL .  GAP,    OB 

The  best  thing  about  the  girl  was,  that  she  was  loyal,  through 
all  their  change  of  fortunes,  to  the  favorite  playfellow  of  humbler 
days,  fortified  in  this  devotion  by  her  elder  sister,  although  Ella 
more  than  once  insinuated  that  it  was  best  now  to  ignore  all  past 
and  vulgar  associations. 

But  with  the  utterance  of  this  sentiment  Rusha  always  came 
bravely  to  the  rescue. 

"  How  can  you,  Ella,  put  such  false  notions  into  the  child's 
head?"  with  that  little  indignant  throb  along  her  tones  that 
they  all  knew  so  well.  '.'  Agnes'  friend  is  a  sweet,  ladylike 
little  girl,  in  every  way  as  worthy  of  her  friendship  as  she  was 
before  our  father  made  his  foi'tune." 

"  I  don't  dispute  that,  Rusha ;  neither  need  you  fire  up  so ; 
but,  of  course,  one  must  drop  old  friends  and  associations  with 
new  habits  and  styles  of  living.  I  fancy  even  you,  with  all 
your  high-flown  sentiment,  would  find  it  rather  disagreeable 
to  introduce  some  of  our  former  acquaintances  into  our  pres- 
ent set." 

"  That  may  be  ;  but  I  would  not  forsake  a  friend  that  I  had 
loved  and  trusted  above  all  others,  solely  because  my  father 
had  made  a  fortune,  and  hers  had  not." 

And  Agnes,  with  that  perplexed,  girlish  face  of  hers,  alter- 
nating from  one  sister  to  the  other,  would  catch  the  contagion  of 
the  higher  sentiment  of  her  elder  sister,  and  say,  fervently,  — 

"I  know  you're  right,  Rusha,  and  I  won't  give  up  dear  little 
Gracie  because  I'm  rich,  anyhow." 

And  whatsoever  salt  of  right  feeling  and  true  purpose  was  to 
be  found  in  this  family,  it  was  hidden  in  the  soul  of  Jerusha 
Darryll.  But  was  it  sufficient  to  save  her  or  them — or  among 
such  counteracting  influences  would  it  too,  "  lose  its  savor"? 

As  for  John  Darryll,  the  mania  of  speculation  had  taken  pos- 
session of  him,  body  and  soul.  He  found  ways  and  means 
enough  to  dispose  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
which  at  first  seemed  so  vast  and  inexhaustible  to  him.  Indeed, 
that  sum  had  dwindled  in  his  thought  to  greatly  smaller  propor- 
tions since  the  night  on  which  he  declared  himself  its  possessor 


WHETHER   IT  PAID.  29 

to  his  family.  He  had  embarked  in  various  speculations  since 
that  time,  in  most  of  which  he  had  been  successful ;  but,  if  the 
truth  must  be  told,  his  temper  had  not  improved  with  his  for- 
tunes. He  had  really  fewer  genial  moods  in  his  family  than 
when  he  was  a  poor  man  ;  he  was  nervous,  irritable,  abstracted, 
and  his  mind  seemed  constantly  to  revolve  about  "  stocks," 
"  shares,"  and  "  dividends."  He  was  forever  complaining  of 
the  expenses  and  extravagance  of  his  family,  but  for  all  this  he 
never  absolutely  restricted  them,  and  entertained  an  unac- 
knowledged conviction  that  his  present  style  of  living  was  the 
necessary  concomitant  of  his  fortunes. 

He  had,  of  course,  very  little  oversight  of  his  sons,  although 
he  had  included  them  all  in  his  business  ;  but  the  duties  of  the 
young  men  at  the  office  were  merely  nominal,  and  their  time 
was  pretty  much  at  their  own  disposal. 

The  dangers  that  inhered  in  this  new  wealth  was  greatest  for 
them.  Andrew  aspired  to  be  a  "  fast  young  man."  He  smoked 
the  finest  Havanas,  rode  fast  horses,  joined  a  club,  was  out  late 
at  suppers  and  theatres,  affected  the  slang  phrases  of  his  "  set," 
and  afforded  a  mischievous  example  to  his  brothers,  who  were 
both  at  the  most  flexible  and  imitative  age. 

Indeed,  Tom  and  Guy  attempted  a  certain  style  of*"  rowdy- 
ism "  in  their  talk  and  manners  which  made  their  mother  shake 
her  head  sometimes,  and  wonder  "  what  her  boys  was  coming 
to  ; "  but  she  had  a  vague  impression  that  no  serious  moral  mis- 
chief could  ever  befall  any  of  her  children ;  and  their  father 
was  now  so  much  engrossed  with  business  that  she  shrank 
from  calling  his  attention  to  any  delinquencies  of  his  sons  ;  so, 
much  that  was  wrong  went  unrebuked,  for  Mrs.  Darryll's  ob- 
jurgations lacked  character  and  force,  and  had  a  strange  facility 
of  "  going  in  at  one  ear  and  out  at  the  other."  There  was 
therefore  very  little  home  restraint  upon  the  young  men,  who 
followed  pretty  much  the  devices  of  their  own  hearts  and  the 
desires  of  their  own  eyes,  regarding  themselves  as  amenable  to 
neither  God  nor  man. 

"  Guy,"  exclaimed  Andrew  to  his  youngest  brother  one  even- 
3* 


30  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

ing,  as  the  family  rose  from  the  dinner-table,  and  walked  into 
the  drawing-room,  "  I  want  your  night-key,  for  I  shan't  be  in 
before  two  o'clock  —  off  on  a  bust  to-night." 

"What  have  you  done  with  your  own?"  asked  the  youth, 
evidently  in  some  doubt  about  granting  this  request. 

"Lost  it  last  night  at  the  club-supper  —  capital  time  we  fel- 
lows had  there  ! " 

"  By  jingo  !  "  interpolated  Tom,  "  I  mean  to  join  that  club 
next  month  ;  jolly  fellows  they  !  "  and  he  fingered  the  mustache 
which  he  had  been  assiduously  cultivating,  and  which  made 
now  a  faint  yellow  line  about  his  upper  lip. 

"  You'd  better  believe  that.  Sow  their  wild  oats  with  a  ven- 
geance, sir ! "  added  the  elder  brother,  taking  out  a  cigar,  and 
lighting  a  taper  at  the  grate. 

"Well,  Andrew,  let's  make  it  a  bargain.  You  shall  have 
the  night-key  if  you'll  take  me  to  the  club  some  evening  ?  "  pro- 
posed Guy,  who  was  still  in  the  clumsiness  and  awkwardness 
of  the  transition  period  from  boyhood  to  youth. 

Andrew  surveyed  his  brother  patronizingly.  He  had  himself 
emerged  somewhat  suddenly  from  his  chrysalis  into  a  certain 
sort  of  dandyism.  He  had  a  trim  figure,  which  his  fashionable 
tailor  invested  with  the  finest  of  broadcloth,  and  the  slight 
swagger  which  he  affected  in  his  gait  pervaded  more  or  less 
his  manners  and  talk  ;  but  there  had  been,  as  each  of  his 
family  could  testify,  a  great  deal  of  kindliness  in  Andrew's 
nature  at  the  beginning.  He  had  no  lack  of  smartness  and 
intelligence,  either  ;  the  great  danger  lay  for  him  in  his  father's 
wealth. 

"  You're  a  little  too  fresh  for  the  club  yet,"  he  said.  "  When 
you're  slightly  riper,  I'll  take  you  out ;  "  and  with  this  promise 
Guy  had  to  be  content,  and  handed  over  the  key. 

The  large  drawing-room,  with  its  handsome  appointments,  its 
velvet  carpets  and  lounging  chairs,  its  gilt,  and  marble,  and 
damask,  was  a  wonderful  contrast  to  the  quiet  little  sitting- 
room,  in  which,  less  than  a  year  before,  the  family  of  the  Dar- 
rylls  had  discussed  their  new  fortunes. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  31 

The  father  sat  in  the  corner  he  and  his  chair  had  appropri- 
ated from  the  beginning,  absorbed  in  the  papers  which  were 
scattered  about  him.  His  wife,  fatigued  Avith  her  day's  shop- 
ping, was  starting  up  at  intervals  out  of  little  dozes  that  appeared 
likely  to  concentrate  themselves  into  a  nap.  The  trio  of  brothers 
had  settled  themselves  about  the  table.  Rusha  had  comfortably 
bestowed  herself  on  a  corner  of  the  lounge,  and  Avas  absorbed 
in  her  book.  Ella  sat  a  little  apart,  contemplating  a  new  set  of 
ebony  inlaid  with  pearl,  Avhich  she  had  purchased  that  very  day, 
and  Agnes  was  leaning  over  her  sister's  chair,  in  admiring  and 
slightly  covetous  contemplation. 

"  See  here,"  exclaimed  Ella,  looking  up  with  sudden  anima- 
tion, "  it  is  high  time  that  AVC  gave  a  party ;  I  mean  a  real 
crush  —  something  that  Avill  create  a  sensation.  Society  has 
claims  upon  us  now,  and  we've  been  invited  out  so  frequently, 
that  it  Avon't  do  to  let  the  matter  slide  any  longer.  Do  you 
hear  Avhat  I  say,  Rusha?" 

"  Ye-es,"  answered  that  young  lady,  looking  up  from  her 
book  Avith  a  pre-occupied  manner. 

"  Well,  you're  as  much  interested  in  the  matter  as  I  am ;  I 
want  the  thing  to  go  off  in  grand  style." 

"A —  Number  One,"  interjected  Tom. 

"  Precisely  ;  I'm  au  fait  in  these  things  now.  "We  needn't 
have  any  trouble  Avith  the  entertainment,  for  the  confectioner 
will  see  to  all  that.  The  only  thing  Avill  be  to  get  up  cards  of 
invitation  and  our  dresses,  and  play  host  and  hostess  as  though 
we  had  given  parties  all  our  lives." 

"  She'll  make  the  governor's  money  fly  —  won't  she,  though  ! " 
exclaimed  Andrew,  shaking  the  ashes  from  his  cigar. 

"Well,  what's  the  money  good  for,  except  to  spend?"  re- 
torted his  sister. 

"  That's  it ;  go  in  for  a  bender  when  you  get  a  chance ! " 
pursued  Tom. 

"But,  Rusha,  about  the  party  —  you  know  it  Avill  all  fall  on 
your  shoulders  and  mine,  and  I  want  you  to  wake  up  to  the  im- 
portance of  it." 


32  DABBTLL    GAP,    OR 

"  I  suppose  I  must,"  closing  her  book  this  time  with  a  sort 
of  bored  air. 

"  Must !  why,  I  thought  you  liked  parties,  and  would  enter 
into  one  of  your  own  with  spirit  ?  " 

"  I  grew  tired  of  them,  to  tell  the  truth,  before  the  season 
was  half  over.  They're  all  glitter,  display,  vapidness  ;  still,  as 
we  are  in  society,  I  suppose  there's  no  help  for  it ;  we  must 
fulfil  the  duties  it  imposes." 

"  I  think  it's  too  bad,"  interposed  Agnes,  who  occasionally 
waxed  restive  under  school-discipline,  "that  you  all  can  have  a 
good  time,  and  be  in  society,  and  do  just  as  you  like,  and  I  have 
to  be  bound  down  to  my  books  and  lessons,  and  can't  have  a  bit 
of  fun." 

"  Never  mind ;  your  turn's  coming,  and  you'll  spread  your- 
self like  the  rest  of  them  one  of  these  days,"  answered  Tom. 

"  Now  stop  your  talk  and  come  back  to  the  party,"  said  Ella, 
with  that  peremptoriness  which  it  required  some  effort  to  resist. 
"  When  shall  it  come  off,  Rusha  ?  " 

"  Whenever  you  like,  only  I  think  the  sooner  it  is  over  the 
better." 

"You  are  funny,  Rusha.  One  would  expect,  now,  you'd 
enter  into  the  thing  with  your  whole  heart.  For  my  part,  I 
expect  to  enjoy  it  vastly,"  getting  up  and  sweeping  the  carpet 
with  the  trail  of  her  purple  silk. 

The  next  half  hour  was  passed  in  discussion,  animated,  at 
least  on  one  sister's  part,  and  in  which  the  other  gradually 
became  interested,  on  the  time,  numbers,  and  general  details  of 
the  anticipated  party. 

At  last,  when  these  had  been  in  a  measure  settled,  Ella 
turned  to  her  father,  having  learned  from  experience  that  an 
unexpected  and  importunate  attack  on  his  purse  was  the  surest 
method  of  carrying  her  point,  — 

"Do  you  hear,  pa?  We  are  going  to  have  a  grand  recep- 
tion, Wednesday  night,  week  after  next,  and  you  must  let  us 
prepare  for  it." 

"  A  regular  squelcher  —  fuss  and  feathers  !  "  added  the  eldest 
son  of  the  family. 


WHETHER   IT  PAID.  33 

"  O,  Andrew,"  said  Rusha,  with  a  flash  of  annoyance  in  her 
face,  "  I  do  wish  you'd  be  gentleman  enough  to  drop  those  slang 
phrases,  at  least  in  the  presence  of  your  mother  and  sisters." 

"  If  you  are  so  very  squeamish,  you  can  put  your  fingers  in 
your  ears,  I  s'pose.  What's  the  use  of  catching  a  fellow  up 
every  time  he  opens  his  mouth  ?  "  retorted  Andrew,  in  a  surly 
tone. 

"  Tut,  tut,  no  quarrelling  here  !  "  This  was  from  Mr.  Dar- 
ryll,  who  had  just  roused  himself  from  a  contemplation  of  the 
rise  at  the  Stock  Board  that  day,  and  on  whom  the  last  remarks 
had  made  some  vague  impression.  "  What's  this  you're  saying 
about  grand  parties,  Ella?" 

The  question  somehow  penetrated  the  "  nap  "  into  which  Mrs. 
Darryll's  intermittent  dozes  had  confirmed  themselves.  She 
started  up  from  the  depths  of  her  luxurious  chair,  rubbed  her 
eyes,  and  looked  in  a  sort  of  vague  perplexity  from  her  husband 
to  her  daughter  ;  but  the  look  settled  at  last  into  one  of  intense 
interest. 

Ella  answered  her  father's  question  by  going  straight  to  the 
point,  amplifying  somewhat  on  the  imperative  necessity  of  the 
party,  and  concluding  with  a  general  description  of  the  way  in 
which  the  whole  must  be  carried  out,  as  though  it  was  a  thing 
already  settled  beyond  contravention. 

"  Piece  of  extravagant  nonsense !  The  fact  is,  my  family 
have  got  it  into  their  heads  that  I'm  made  of  money." 

"  No  use  for  the  governor  to  storm  ;  he'll  have  to  shell  out !  " 
muttered  Andrew  to  his  brothers,  eliciting  from  both  a  laugh 
and  a  "  That's  so  !  Ella  comes  right  down  on  him  like  a  thou- 
sand of  brick  ! " 

"  Pa  !  "  John  Darryll's  second  daughter  infused  into  that 
correlative  an  emphasis  whose  meaning  was  perfectly  apparent 
to  those  who  heard  it.  "  Would  you  have  your  family  relin- 
quish society  altogether?  Or  have  it  said  that  while  you  al- 
lowed your  wife  and  daughters  to  go  to  parties  you  were  too 
stingy  to  give  one  in  turn  ?  " 

This  was  turning  a  view  of  the  case  towards  the  successful 


34  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

speculator  which  he  had  never  contemplated.  He  changed  his 
argument,  aqd  somewhat  mollified  his  tone. 

"  Awful  bore,"  he  muttered.  "  Rush  and  jam.  Always  set 
my  face  against  them." 

It  was  now  Rusha's  turn  to  speak. 

"  But,  pa,  you  know,  as  Ella  says,  we  owe  something  to 
society.  I  am  sure,  for  my  own  part,  I  heartily  wish  the  thing 
was  over ;  but  the  only  way  is  to  get  through  with  it." 

"  And  a  pretty  bill  of  expense  you'll  make  of  it  among  you, 
before  that,"  added  Mr.  Darryll. 

"  But  it  w'ill  be  our  only  party  this  season,  pa,  and  we'll  have 
all  our  friends,  and  do  the  thing  up  at  once,"  said  Ella,  by  way 
of  reducing  her  father  to  complacency. 

Here  Mrs.  Darryll  interposed  in  a  voice  faintly  querulous. 
"  I  s'pose  the  care  will  all  come  on  me  —  for  you  girls  will  have 
your  heads  full  of  nothing  but  dress,  and  fol-de-rol,  and  I  never 
shall  be  able  to  get  through  it  in  the  world." 

"O,  ma,  now  don't  go  to*  fretting,"  expostulated  Ella, 
in  not  the  most  respectful  tone  in  the  world,  but  that  was 
probably  less  the  daughter's  than  the  mother's  fault.  "  The 
whole  thing  will  be  managed  without  giving  you  any  further 
trouble  than  to  receive  your  guests,"  —  and  she  went  on  for  the 
next  half  hour,  proving  how  admirably  her  active  observation 
and  perceptive  faculties  had  served  her,  and  how  entirely  she 
was  at  home  in  all  the  details  of  a  fashionable  party. 

At  the  end  of  this  time,  Andrew,  having  despatched  his  sec- 
ond cigar,  rose  up,  evidently  with  the  intention  of  going  out. 
He  was  arrested  near  the  door  by  his  father's  inquiry,  — 

"  Off  again  to-night,  Andrew?  Where  do  you  spend  your 
evenings  ?  " 

The  young  man  looked  a  little  surprised,  and  not  over-much 
pleased,  at  this  instance  of  paternal  solicitude,  but  he  an- 
swered, — 

"  I  was  going  over  to  the  club  to  see  some  of  the  fellows." 

"  Well,  I  hope  you'll  look  out  sharp  what  sort  of  company 
you  keep.  I  didn't  relish  the  actions  of  some  of  those  young 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  35 

cronies  of  yours,  who  dropped  into  the  office  to-day.  It  was 
evident  that  they  had  more  wine  than  wit  aboard." 

"  They're  a  jolly  crew,  and  had  just  come  in  from  a  horse- 
race on  the  Bloomingdale  road,  and  their  side  had  won  the 
bets,"  replied  Andrew,  half  standing  on  the  defensive,  half 
apologetic  for  his  friends,  and  he  went  out. 

"  Andrew  laid  a  two  hundred  dollar  wager  in  that  race.  I 
overheard  them  talking  it  over,"  muttered  Guy  to  his  brother. 

"Hush,"  said  Tom  ;  "  the  governor  will  hear  you,  and  then 
there  will  be  a  storm.  But  Andrew  was  a  lucky  dog,  for  he 
won  the  bet." 

"Yes,  and  sunk  most  of  it  in  a  treat  the  same  night.  It 
takes  him  to  put  things  through  with  a  vengeance,  and  he  has 
a  way  of  making  the  governor  fork  over,  as  none  of  the  rest 
of  us  can." 

Rusha  had  closed  her  book,  for  she  was  naturally  of  a  rest- 
less habit,  never  occupying  one  place  or  attitude  for  any  length 
of  time,  and  she  walked  up  to  the  mirror  on  one  side  of  the 
room,  and  stood  a  moment  in  front  of  it. 

A  vast  mirror  it  was,  occupying  with  its  heavy  gilding  the 
place  of  honor  betwixt  twin  fleeces  of  lace  curtains,  and  re- 
peating to  the  life  the  large  room  and  the  figures  that  occupied 
it.  Her  father  and  mother  on  either  side  of  the  mantel,  her 
sisters  making  a  pretty  tableau  at  a  side  table,  the  fine,  showy 
figure  in  contrast  with  that  light,  girlish  one  beside  it,  while 
Ella  was  busily  occupied  in  pencilling  down  a  list  of  invita- 
tions foj  the  projected  party.  And  near  where  she  stood,  at 
another  and  larger  table,  were  her  brothers,  in  those  loose,  self- 
assertive  attitudes,  which  harmonized  with  their  general  style 
of  talk. 

Of  all  these  things  Rusha  had  a  vague,  half-conscious  im- 
pression, as  she  stood  close  to  the  mirror,  and  of  the  face  look- 
ing at  hers,  with  a  sudden  surprise  and  fear  in  the  bright,  dark 
eyes,  that  did  not  end  there,  but  somehow  invested  every  fea- 
ture, even  to  the  lips,  which  were  slightly  dropped  apart,  as 
one's  are  apt  to  be  when  intently  listening. 


36  DAEEYLL    GAP,   OR 

Nobody  saw  this  face  in  the  mirror,  or  the  one  outside  of  it. 
The  brothers  went  on  talking,  in  a  low,  chuckling  sort  of  tone, 
quite  unconscious  indeed  that  Rusha  had  changed  her  position. 
In  a  moment,  however,  Tom  rose,  throwing  a  glance  in  the 
direction  of  his  father,  who  was  once  more  deep  in  the  Stock 
Board,  and  left  the  room. 

He  was  drawing  on  his  overcoat,  when  a  soft  hand  was  laid 
on  his  arm,  and  turning  he  encountered  Rusha,  with  something 
in  her  face  —  he  could  not  tell  what,  until  her  words  made  it 
clear. 

"  O,  Tom,  that  was  not  true  what  you  said  about  Andrew, 
just  now?" 

"  What  business  had  you  to  overhear  it  anyhow?"  he  an- 
swered, considerably  annoyed. 

"  I  stood  by  the  glass,  and  I  couldn't  help  it.  But,  Tom, 
this  is  terrible !  If  Andrew  is  spending  his  father's  money  in 
betting  and  drinking,  surely  you  ought  to  tell  him  !  " 

"  I  think  I  see  myself  doing  it !  "  his  annoyance  working  into 
high  displeasure.  "  A  pretty  storm  we  should  have  about  our 
ears.  Girls  better  mind  their  own  affairs,  and  not  poke  them- 
selves into  their  brothers'  business." 

She  would  not  be  rebuffed  even  by  such  harshness  as  this. 

"  It  is  my  business,  Tom,"  she  said,  with  a  little  quiver  in 
her  voice,  "  if  any  of  the  brothers  that  I  love  are  in  danger  of* 
temptation,  or  of  falling   into   any  habits  which   I   know  are 
wrong,  and  sin." 

"  O,  bosh  ! "  with  a  petulant  movement  of  the  arm  on  which 
her  hand  lay. 

"  Tom ! " 

"Well,"  half  angry,  half  ashamed  of  himself,  and  his  answer 
combining  defence  of  himself  and  accusation  of  his  sister,  "  I 
say  now,  Avhat  is  a  fellow  to  do  when  a  girl  comes  round  him 
with  the  pious  and  pathetic  in  this  style  !  Of  course  Andrew 
must  sow  his  wild  oats,  and  have  his  little  sprees  like  the  rest 
of  his  set.  They're  all  young  fellows  in  high  life." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  '  sprees,'  Tom?" 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  37 

"Yon  must  be  green,  Rusha,  to  ask  that  question." 

"  Perhaps  so,  but  I  asked  it." 

"  Well,  then,  getting  tight  more  or  less,  on  champagne  and 
claret." 

"Tom,"  the  gravity  of  her  face  deepening  into  a  shocked 
expression,  "you  do  not  mean  to  say  that  our  Andrew  —  gets 
drunk  ?  " 

"  That's  putting  it  like  a  -girl.  I  mean  only  to  say,  that  he 
does  just  the  very  things  that  the  rest  of  his  set  do,  whether  it's 
betting  on  fast  horses,  playing  cards,  or  drinking  champagne. 
Where's  th^harm  of  it?" 

"  O,  Tom,  has  it  come  to  this,  and  his  father  and  mother  not 
suspecting  a  word  of  it !" 

"  Rusha  Darryll,  you  are  just  making  a  fool  of  yourself.  Do 
you  think  your  brothers  —  at  least  Andrew  and  I — are  going  to 
ask  their  marm  every  time  they  go  out,  or  have  you  following, 
and  whining  about  in  this  fashion,  as  though  a  glass  of  cham- 
pagne, or  a  fast  horse,  was  the  highway  to  ruin?  I  say,  I  won't 
stand  it,"  pushing  away  her  hand  with  considerable  roughness, 
and  settling  himself  in  his  overcoat  with  a  good  deal  of  demon- 
stration. 

"  O,  Tom,  this  from  you  !  "  said  Rusha,  with  a  little  grieved, 
underdrawn  breath  ;  to  which  her  brother  made  no  reply,  draw- 
ing oil  his  gloves,  and  taking  his  hat  and  his  cane,  and  going 
out,  not  speaking  another  word. 

Just  as  he  turned  to  close  the  door,  however,  the  young  man 
darted  a  glance  back,  and  saw  his  sister  standing  there,  at  the 
foot  of  the  wide  flight  of  stairs,  her  head  leaning  against  the- 
balustrade,  and  the  tears  shining  in  her  eyes. 

The  front  door  swung  sharply  to,-  she  heard  his  feet  ring 
down  the  front  steps,  and  still  she  stood  there,  just  as  Tom  had 
seen  her  last,  and  as  his  thought  carried  her  down  the  street, 
with  the  troubled,  grieved  look  in  her  face,  which  he  could  not 
put  away.  She  was  standing  there  still,  two  or  three  minutes 
later,  when  the  key  was  turned  again  in  the  lock,  and  Tom  en- 
tered,"and  found  her  just  as  he  bad  left  her. 
4 


38  DAEEYLL    GAP,   OE 

"  Knsha,"  he  said,  ';  I  s'pose  I  was  a  kind  of  brute  to  answer 
you  just  as  I  did,  but  you  know  how  it  is  —  we  fellows  can't  bear 
to  have  girls  come  round,  sticking  their  fingers  in  our  affairs. 
It  springs  us  right  off.  But,  corne  now,  you  mustn't  mind  my 
talk." 

Rusha  knew  that  with  his  quick  temper  it  had  cost  Torn  some- 
thing to  return  and  make  this  concession,  and  that  he  was  at 
least  two  thirds  ashamed  of  an  act.  that  did  credit  to  his  better 
nature.  She  yielded  to  her  first  impulse  of  forgiveness  and 
affection,  and  reached  up  and  kissed  him. 

"  O  get  out ! "  but  the  words  did  not  go  into  h,is  tone,  and 
her  ground  was  safe  now. 

"  You  will  not  be  angry  with  me  again  for  loving  you  too 
well,  Tom  ?  If  any  grief  should  come  to  you,  or  Andrew,  or 
Guy,  it  would  break  my  heart !  " 

"  There  it  goes  again ;  fretting  yourself  over  a  glass  of  cham- 
pagne ;  silly  girl !  " 

But  she  knew  now  that  her  words  had  touched  the  tender 
place  in  the  boy's  nature,  hidden  under  many  foibles  and  boyish 
weaknesses,  but  when  it  was  found,  kindly,  loyal,  true. 

"  Then  if  you  think  I  am  foolish,  remember  that  it  is  my 
love  for  you  that  makes  me  so  ;  but  I  know,  Tom,  perhaps  bet- 
ter than  you  think,  some  of  the  dangers  that  lie  in  wait  on 
every  side  to  destroy  young  men,  body  and  soul.  0,  Tom, 
I  must  be  earnest  now.  You  will  not  go  near  them  —  you 
will  fly  from  them  as  you  would  from  pestilence,  or  fire,  or 
death ! " 

In  her  fervor  she  had  clasped  both  hands  on  his  shoulder. 
No  danger  of  his  shaking  them  off  now. 

"  Rusha,"  said  Thomas  Darryll,  deeply  moved  in  spite  of 
himself,  "there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  world  that  would  save 
me  from  going  wrong  so  quick  as  the  thought  of  you  !  " 

Her  whole  face  trembled  in  a  smile  that  was  not  less  bright 
because  one  saw  that  it  lay  close  to  tears. 

"  Well,  Tom,  that  shall  be  our  bond  ;  whenever  these  friends 
of  yours  tempt  you  to  do  anything  wrong  —  to  follow  them 


WHETHER  IT  PAID,  39 

into  any  path  where  you  know  lurks  danger,  or  sin  —  you  will 
think  of  me?" 

"Yes,  I  promise;"  he  bent  down  and  kissed  her  —  a  most 
unusual  demonstration  on  his  part,  for  Tom  had  the  dislike  to 
family  caressing  which  is  natural  to  the  transition  period. 

That  night,  somewhere  among  the  small  hours,  Andrew 
Darryll  returned  home,  so  intoxicated  that  he  could  not  find  his 
own  chamber,  and  stumbled  up  another  flight  of  stairs  into  the 
butler's,  who  had  to  assist  him  to  bed,  and  whom  he  bribed  not 
to  tell  his  father.  So  the  skeleton  hid  itself  in  the  closet  of 
John  Darryll's  magnificent  home,  and  one  day  it  might  come  to 
light,  in  all  its  hideousness  and  terror  1 


40  DARBTLL    GAP,    OR 


CHAPTER   IV. 

IN  due  time  the  party  transpired.  This  one  did  not  differ 
widely  from  those  of  its  class  ;  at  least  it  had  no  strong  features 
of  individuality,  which  would  have  struck  any  one  who  viewed 
it  superficially.  People  who  deal  in  inflated  adjectives  (and  the 
feminine  portion  of  the  guests  were  largely  of  this  class)  called 
it  a  "  magnificent  affair,"  "  a  perfect  rush." 

There  was,  of  course,  the  usual  amount  of  glitter  and  display. 
The  head  of  the  family  had  borne,  with  what  equanimity  he 
could,  the  constant  drain  on  his  purse  which  the  party  involved  ; 
not,  however,  without  frequent  objurgations,  and  signs  some- 
times of  absolute  rebellion ;  but  his  wife  and  daughters  man- 
aged to  impress  him,  more  or  less,  with  the  fact  that  the  ex- 
pense was  one  of  the  necessities  of  their  position,  to  which  he 
submitted  —  not  with  a  good  grace.  So  the  party  was  as  fine 
and  brilliant  as  money  could  make  it.  There  was  the  crowd 
of  ladies,  perfumy,  radiant  in  diamonds,  rustling  in  silks, 
dainty  in  fine  laces,  and  with  that  "company  expression" 
which  so  painfully  supersedes  all  naturalness. 

The  rooms  were  fragrant  at  midwinter  with  the  sweet,  pas- 
sionate perfumes  of  tropical  summers ;  the  music  was,  at  least, 
of  the  costliest  sort,  and  the  supper  was  the  crowning  glory  of 
the  entertainment. 

The  tables  were  radiant  with  cut  glass  and  silver,  and  it 
seemed  as  though  every  country  in  the  world  brought  some 
tributary  to  the  board,  either  in  game,  or  fruit,  or  choice  con- 
fections, or  wines  that  held  the  glow  of  rubies,  and  the  glitter 
of  gold. 

As  for  the  family,  Mrs.  Darryll  had  rehearsed  her  part  so 
frequently,  that  she  got  through  with  it  to-night  with  ample 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  41 

credit  to  herself;  her  girls  were,  each  in  her  own  way,  fully 
equal  to  the  occasion,  and  there  were  few  who  outshone,  in 
bloom  and  grace,  the  daughters  of  the  host  that  night.  The 
latter  was  bland  and  social,  enjoying  to  a  considerable  degree 
these  material  evidences  of  his  wealth  and  importance,  and  his 
youngest  sons  circulated  among  the  guests  and  liked  the  "  show," 
as  Tom  expressed  it,  "  immensely." 

The  eldest  brother  was  absent.  His  mother  was  the  first  to 
discover  this,  late  in  the  evening,  and  commented  on  it  to  her 
husband  when  she  had  an  opportunity,  with  some  anxiety. 
Andrew  had  evinced  as  much  interest  in  the  preparations  for  the 
party  as  the  rest  of  the  family,  joking  about  the  whole  thing 
in  his  slang  fashion,  and  ordering  an  entire  new  suit  for  the 
occasion. 

The  disquietude  which  Mrs.  Darryll  expressed  at  her  son's 
absence  was,  however,  allayed  by  her  husband's  — 

"  O,  well,  give  yourself  no  concern.  He'll  be  along,  sooner 
or  later.  Taken  up  with  some  affair  at  the  club,  I  suppose  !  " 
and  he  turned  to  address  a  broker,  whose  acquaintance  he  had 
recently  formed  at  the  stock  board,  a  broad-shouldered,  rubi- 
cund-faced man,  with  a  little,  thin-visaged,  dark-complexioned, 
over-dressed  woman  hanging  on  his  arm. 

The  dancing  formed,  of  course,  the  principal  feature  of  the 
evening,  and  through  every  set,  the  graceful  figure  of  Ella  Dar- 
ryll floated  light  as  a  fairy.  Kusha,  who  was  never  intoxicated 
with  this  amusement,  joined  in  it  for  a  while,  and  then  managed 
to  have  some  excuse  for  declining  all  invitations  for  the  rest  of 
the  evening.  It  was  a  singular  fact  in  this  girl's  character  that 
an  unaccountable  sadness  was  sure  to  steal  over  her  in  a  gay 
crowd.  It  had  come  over  her  spirits  to-night,  like  some  faint 
mists  driven  of  the  winds  to  these  bright  coasts  of  her  life,  and 
Rusha  Darryll  stood  by  one  of  the  side  tables,  and  looked  over 
the  dazzling  scene  before  her,  with  thought  and  feeling  in 
strange,  sharp  contrast  with  it.  She  had,  after  the  first  reluc- 
tance, thrown  herself  heart  and  soul  into  the  preparations  for 
this  evening  ;  she  had  looked  forward  to  it  with  the  eager  antici- 
4* 


42  DABBYLL    GAP,   OR 

pations  of 'youth  and  hope,  for  it  was  a  necessity  of  this  girl's 
nature  to  do  whatsoever  she  did,  heartily,  vitally.  But  now, 
half  as  in  a  dream,  she  heard  the  hum  of  the  voices,  as  one 
hears  the  moan  of  the  sea ;  she  saw  the  long  train  of  dancers 
swing  to  and  fro  before  her.  "What  did  it  all  mean  —  what 
was  it  all  worth  ?  "  she  asked  herself. 

"  Whither  were  all  those  men  and  women  going?  What 
were  they  living  for  ?  Had  they  found  out  any  true  worth  and 
meaning  in  life?"  How  like  a  masquerade,  or  a  mere  farce, 
the  whole  thing  seemed  to  her  as  she  gazed  !  How  unreal,  ho'w 
hollow  !  How  everything  associated  with  all  this  display  and 
splendor  seemed,  for  the  moment,  pitiful  and  barren  to  this 
girl's  thought !  For  such  things  as  these,  did  she  and  the  peo- 
ple about  her  live?  And  what  would  the  end  of  all  this  be? 
And  how  in  the  strange,  vast,  mysterious  eternity  that  lay  a 
little  way  beyond  for  all  of  them,  and  that  held  such  close  and 
vital  relations  with  this  life,  would  look  interests,  purposes, 
pleasure  like  these  ? 

She  drew  a  sigh  —  the  hungry,  lonely,  soul  of  this  girl,  articu- 
lating instinctively  its  want  and  bewilderment,  its  half-born 
aspirations  and  needs.  There  was  nothing  in  her  life  or  asso- 
ciations, nothing  in  either  the  domestic  or  social  atmosphere 
around  her,  to  stimulate  the  best  and  noblest  part  of  her. 
Everything  here  was  material,  earthly,  in  a  sense,  coarse.  And 
so  her  soul,  baffled,  perplexed,  wearied,  drew  into  itself  and 
sighed. 

"  Rusha,  what  are  you  thinking  of?  "  Ella  Darryll  fluttered 
to  her  sister's  side,  flushed  with  her  last  dance,  her  face  radiant 
with  excitement,  as  she  waved  her  fan  to  and  fro. 

"  I  don't  know  ; "  feeling  that  this  was  quite  the  truth,  and 
that,  in  any  case,  it  would  be  hopeless  to  attempt  to  put  her 
thoughts  into  words.  "  How  are  you  enjoying  it? " 

"  O,  splendidly  !    Everything  is  going  off  in  first  rate  style." 

At  this  moment  a  group  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  approached 
the  sisters,  and  they  were  soon  absorbed  in  light  talk  and  bad- 
inage. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  43 

Among  this  group  was  one  gentleman  who  seemed  to  eclipse 
the  others  in  various  ways.  He  had  an  easy,  indolent,  graceful 
air,  which  women  of  a  certain  style  greatly  admired.  He  had 
a  dark,  somewhat  thin  face,  which  was  called  handsome  by 
those  who  did  not  penetrate  its  expression.  There  was  an  air 
of  self-assertion,  an  offensive  superciliousness  about  this  man, 
repugnant  to  all  fine  and  matured  souls  of  men  and  women ; 
and  yet,  with  young,  inexperienced,  fashionable  girls,  and  some- 
times with  their  mammas,  he  was  a  great  favorite.  They 
called  his  person  and  style  "  distingue* ; "  they  repeated  the 
pretty  nothings  which  he  was  such  an  adept  in  making  on  all 
occasions. 

The  man  affected,  too,  a  sort  of  indifference,  a  half  contempt- 
uous indolence  in  speech  and  manner,  which,  to  use  his  own 
phrase,  *'  he  found  took  immensely  with  the  women."  He  came 
of  an  old  family,  prided  himself  largely  on  his  blood  and  breed- 
ing ;  but  I  think  the  soul  of  no  good  man  or  woman  ever  sounded 
that  of  Derrick  Howe  without  finding  the  hollowness  and  selfish- 
ness which  lay  beneath,  —  a  man  who  had  no  faith  in  God  nor 
himself,  in  man  nor  woman,  whose  dominant  purpose  in  life 
was  his  own  comfort  and  ease.  He  had  an  intellect  sharp  but 
shallow,  luxurious  tastes,  but  indolent  and  somewhat  dissolute 
habits.  And  with  the  last  vestige  of  his  fortune  drifting  away 
from  him,  it  had  of  late  entered  into  this  man's  thought  to  take 
to  wife  some  young  and  pretty  woman,  who  could  replenish  his 
exhausted  fortunes  with  her  dowry. 

Derrick  Howe  was  in  his  most  brilliant  vein  to-night,  as  the 
perpetual  giggle  of  the  gayly-dressed  group  of  young  ladies 
around  the  table  testified  for  the  next  fifteen  minutes.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  supper  was  announced,  and  Mr.  Howe  con- 
ducted Ella  Darryll  to  the  table,  and  that  young  lady  was  in 
consequence  the  object  of  the  secret  envy  of  several  of  her  fash- 
ionable friends. 

"Isn't  he  delightful?"  whispered  Ella  to  her  sister,  when 
her  cavalier  had  gone  off  a  moment  in  quest  of  some  jelly  for 
the  younger  lady. 


44  DAEBTLL   GAP,   OR 

"Who?"  the  speaker's  attention  divided  betwixt  her  cream 
and  her  sister's  question. 

"  You  are  the  funniest  girl  in  the  world,  Rusha  !  As  if  I 
could  mean  anybody  but  Mr.  Howe  !  " 

"  O,  yes,  I  understand  now.  I  don't  like  him,  Ella,"  with  a 
good  deal  of  emphasis. 

"  Why,  Rusha  Darryll !  He's  perfectly  splendid  —  the  most 
gentlemanly  and  agreeable  man  that  is  present  to-night." 

"  That  may  be,  if  equal  constituents  of  vanity  and  coxcombry 
can  make  one  this  !  " 

Rusha  could  be  both  satirical  and  disagreeable  when  any- 
thing offended  her,  which,  with  her  strong  feelings  and  keen 
intuitions  of  one  sort  and  another,  was  frequently  the  case. 

Ella  deigned  no  reply  to  this  satire,  except  a  glance,  which 
expressed  a  good  deal  of  suppressed  indignation ;  but  at  that 
moment  Mr.  Howe  presented  himself  with  a  quaking  stratum" 
of  jelly,  and  she  received  this  with  a  smile  which  must  certainly 
have  amply  rewarded  the  gentleman  for  all  the  trouble  which 
he  had  taken,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  evening  they 
danced  frequently  together. 

It  was  long  after  midnight  before  the  party  broke  up,  and 
the  tired  family  had  concentrated  itself  in  one  of  the  large  par- 
lors to  discuss  the  events  of  the  evening. 

They  were  all  in  good  humor,  for  on  the  whole  the  party  had 
been  a  success ;  so  there  was  a  general  congratulatory  and  half- 
complimentary  tone  in  this  summing  up  of  the  whole  affair. 

"  I  thought  I  got  along  with  my  part  pretty  well,  father,  con- 
sidering it  was  a  new  thing  to  me,"  said  Mrs.  Darryll,  address- 
ing herself  to  her  husband,  but  in  reality  looking  for  her 
indorsement  from  her  daughters. 

"  O,  ma,  you  did  splendidly  !  "  answered  Ella.  "  The  whole 
thing  went  off  capitally,  and  did  us  all  immense  credit." 

"  Well,  I  must  say  I'm  glad  it's  over  with,"  added  Rusha, 
unclasping  the  bracelets  from  her  small  wrists. 

"  I  wish  we  were  going  to  have  another  to-morrow  night," 
subjoined  Agnes. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  45 

"  Come,  come,"  interposed  Mr.  Darryll,  "  it's  almost  morning 
DOW,  and  high  time  these  lights  were  out.  Get  to  bed,  every 
one  of  you,  and  leave  the  talking  until  to-morrow." 

Mrs.  Darryll  rose  up  to  set  an  example  of  obedience  to  her 
children,  when  Tom  suddenly  spoke  up  — 

"  I  say,  where' s  Andrew?    He  hasn't  been  in  to-night." 

"Sure  enough.  What  does  it  mean?"  Mrs.  Darryll' s  ma- 
ternal solicitude  suddenly  active.  "  I  was  asking  your  father 
about  it." 

At  that  moment  the  front-door  bell  rang  violently.  Most  of 
those  who  heard  it  were  not  people  of  particularly  fine  imagina- 
tion or  sensibilities ;  but  somehow  that  late  midnight  summons, 
following  so  soon  on  the  scenes  of  splendor  and  hilarity  in  which 
they  had  all  been  partakers,  seemed  to  come  now  with  a  sound 
of  doom  to  all  their  ears.  Each  one  leaned  forward  and  lis- 
tened breathlessly,  while  into  the  silence  came  the  sharp  click  of 
silver  and  china  from  the  dining-room  beyond,  where  the  ser- 
vants were  despoiling  the  tables. 

They  heard  the  front  door  open,  and  then  a  quick  exclama- 
tion of  surprise  and  terror,  followed  by  the  heavy  tread  of  sev- 
eral feet  in  the  hall.  I  am  sure  every  face  was  pale  that  the 
servant  confronted  when  he  opened  the  parlor  door. 

"  Mr.  Darryll,"  he  said,  "  your  son  has  met  with  an  accident." 

- "  What  is  it  —  what  is  it  —  O,  my  boy  !  " 

It  was  the  mother's  sharp  cry  that  broke  out  first,  and  with 
one  impulse  they  all  followed  her  as  she  rushed  into  the  hall, 
and  there,  bruised,  bleeding,  unconscious,  they  found  Andrew 
Darryll  in  the  arms  of  two  men. 

The  white  face,  the  limp  figure,  as  it  met  their  gaze,  looked 
like  death.  There  was  a  sharp  cry  of  pain  from  half  a  dozen 
voices,  and  the  next  two  or  three  minutes  held  a  scene  one 
would  not  like  to  witness  again  in  a  lifetime. 

"  Perhaps  he  is  not  dead  yet  —  somebody  run  for  the  nearest 
doctor !  " 

They  were  all  standing,  a  pale-faced,  horror-stricken  group, 
around  the  prostrate  form  of  Andrew  Darryll,  their  elegant 


46  DABEYLL    GAP,   OR 

dresses  in  strange  contrast  with  their  attitudes,  when  Mr.  Dar- 
ryll  spoke  these  words.  And  then  there  flashed  across  Rusha 
Darryll's  thought  the  plate  which  she  must  have  unconsciously 
observed  sometime  on  the  door  of  the  house  opposite. 

She  did  not  wait  for  another  word,  and  nobody  observed  her 
as  she  rushed  out  of  the  front  door,  and  down  the  steps,  and 
across  the  street,  and  pulled  the  bell  as  one  would  on  a  sum- 
mons for  life  or  death. 

Dr.  Rochford  sat  in  his  library,  although  it  was  long  after 
midnight.  He  had  returned  from  a  visit  to  some  distant  pa- 
tients, and  not  feeling  sleepy,  had  concluded  to  read  for  half  an 
hour  before  retiring,  and  from  reading  he  had  relapsed  into  a 
sort  of  reverie,  out  of  which  the  loud  peal  of  the  bell  sharply 
roused  him. 

He  hurried  to  the  door,  and  when  he  opened  it,  he  saw  stand- 
ing there  in  the  flood  of  gaslight,  which  poured  down  from  the 
street  lamp,  a  vision  which  Fletcher  Rochford  will  never  forget 
to  the  latest  hour  of  his  life. 

I  do  not  think  that  Rusha  Darryll  was  beautiful  either  as  girl 
or  woman,  after  the  fashion  that  most  people  call  beauty  ;  but 
somehow,  as  she  stood  there  in  the  gaslight,  in  her  dress  of 
white  moire-antique,  the  snowy  surf  of  soft  laces  around  her 
half-bared  arms,  the  brown  hair  which  had  fallen  loose  around 
her  white  face,  as  she  looked  up  at  Fletcher  Rochford  —  som'e- 
how,  I  think  she  made  at  that  moment  a  picture  such  as  per- 
haps she  never  had  before  and  never  might  again. 

"  Is  Dr.  Rochford  in?"  she  gasped. 

"  I  am  he." 

His  words  few  and  straight  to  the  point,  as  he  saw  her  stress, 
whatever  that  might  be,  required. 

"  My  brother  is  dead  or  dying ;  come  over  and  try  to  save 
him ! "  with  a  quick  gesture  of  head  and  arm  which  designated 
the  opposite  house. 

"  Wait  one  moment ! "  and  with  professional  instinct  the 
young  physician  started  for  a  little  case  of  instruments  and 
specifics,  which,  under  God,  had  saved  more  than  one  human 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  47 

life,  in  some  sudden  peril,  when  a  few  minutes'  delay  was  cer- 
tain death. 

But  Rusha,  not  comprehending  his  movement,  sprang  for- 
ward and  caught  his  hand  —  the  soft,  cold  fingers  clutching  over 
his  —  "  O,  sir,  do  not  wait  —  Andrew  may  be  dying!  Come 
with  me ! " 

"  My  child,  I  go  for  something  that  may  save  his  life  ;  "  and 
he  seated  her  down  in  a  chair  which  stood  in  the  hall,  and  hur- 
ried into  his  library.  He  could  not  pause  to  comfort  her  now. 

When  he  returned  a  moment  later,  she  rose  up  to  meet  him 
with  something  in  her  face  that  it  pained  him  to  see ;  but  she 
did  not  speak ;  she  simply  rushed  on  before  him  across  the 
street,  his  rapid  strides  following  behind,  and  so  Fletcher  Roch- 
ford  entered  the  house,  about  whose  inmates  he  and  his  sister 
had  had  their  pleasant  gossip  at  the  breakfast-table  several 
months  before. 

The  shivering  group,  gathered  around  Andrew  Darryll  in  the 
parlor,  which  so  lately  had  been  such  a  scene  of  life  and  gayety, 
awaited  in  silence  the  young  doctor's  verdict  whether  "  for  life 
or  death." 

It  did  not  take  the  skilful  surgeon  long  to  reach  the  facts  of 
the  case.  Andrew  Darryll  had  broken  two  of  his  ribs,  and  had 
received  some  internal  injuries  of  a  more  or  less  serious  nature  ; 
but  he  was  alive.  "  O,  my  boy  !  —  my  pretty  boy  !  "  —  moaned 
the  mother,  forgetful  in  her  tenderness,  and  grief,  and  joy,  that 
the  young  man  before  her  was  anything  but  the  first-born  son 
she  had  fondled  so  often  in  her  lap  ;  and  John  Darryll,  although 
he  was  not  naturally  a  demonstrative  man,  in  his  relief,  wrung 
Dr.  Rochford's  hand,  as  though  with  him  had  rested  the  power 
of  life  or  death. 

In  a  few  moments  the  young  man  was  restored  to  partial 
consciousness.  Meanwhile  Mr.  Darryll  had  penetrated,  1)y  a 
close  investigation  of  the  men  who  brought  his  son  home,  the 
disgraceful  causes  which  had  resulted  in  the  latter's  present 
condition. 

Andrew  had  made  an  engagement  at  his  club,  and  gone  round 


48  .  DABETLL    GAP,    OR 

early  in  the  evening  to  the  rooms,  intending  to  return  home  in 
time  for  the  party.  The  young  man  had  recently  joined  a  soci- 
ety of  what  he  called  "  good  fellows,  though  a  little  fast,"  the 
first  article  of  whose  constitution,  and  the  last  one,  for  that  mat- 
ter, was  "  to  eat,  drink,  and  take  the  world  easily." 

Some  members  of  a  rival  club  happened  to  be  present  on  this 
evening,  and  a  proposition  that  both  sides  should  "  stand  treat 
for  a  supper "  was  eagerly  accepted  by  all  parties.  They  ad- 
journed to  a  fashionable  restaurant,  ordered  whatever  edibles 
their  appetites  suggested,  the  most  prominent  demand  being 
"  champagne  and  claret,"  and  passed  by  natural  gradations 
from  conviviality  to  boisterousness,  thence  to  irascibility,  and 
from  this  last  to  brutality. 

Both  sides,  having  their  natural  feeling  of  rivalry  fired  by 
liquor,  closed  in  a  fight  so  fierce  that  it  would  certainly  have  been 
deadly  if  weapons  of  that  sort  had  been  at  hand.  As  it  was, 
they  pummelled  and  disfigured  each  other  cruelly,  and  some  of 
the  soberest  of  the  party,  with  the  proprietor  of  the  restaurant, 
were  obliged  to  summon  the  police  to  interfere. 

Andrew  was  perhaps  the  severest  sufferer  of  all,  though  sev- 
eral young  men,  belonging  to  the  "  first  families,"  had  been 
borne  away  disfigured  and  unconscious. 

Some  of  young  Darryll's  friends  had  taken  him  in  charge, 
thus  shielding  him  from  the  disgrace  of  being  publicly  involved 
in  the  riot,  had  hired  a  carriage  and  bribed  two  of  the  waiters 
to  accompany  him  home. 

And  this  was  the  closing  scene  of  the  night  of  the  Darrylls' 
grand  party  1 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  49 


CHAPTER    V.  N 

FAMILY  affection  struck  its  roots  deep  in  all  the  race  of  the 
Darrylls.  It  did  not  manifest  itself  in  the  every-day  home  at- 
mosphere in  its  finest  and  highest  development  —  in  gentle, 
thoughtful  courtesies  of  speech  and  deed ;  but  the  old  family 
love  showed  itself  faithful  and  strong  when  any  stress  of  grief 
or  need  brought  it  to  the  surface. 

Dr.  Rochford  certainly  saw  the  family  on  its  best  side  for  the 
next  month.  He  had  shown  at  the  beginning  so  clear  a  com- 
prehension of  the  patient's  case,  and  his  skill  had  been  sub- 
stantiated in  such  high  quarters,  that  Mr.  Darryll  had  been 
very  glad  to  secure  the  young  doctor's  services  in  the  case  of 
his  eldest  son. 

There  was,  at  first,  room  for  keen  solicitude  on  the  part  of 
Andrew  Darryll's  family.  The  ribs,  although  badly  fractured, 
would  be  restored  with  skill  and  time,  and  the  internal  strains 
and  bruises  did  not  prove  themselves  of  so  vital  a  nature  as  was 
at  first  apprehended.  But  the  danger  lay  in  the  fever,  which 
set  in  fiercely  before  the  youth's  entire  return  to  consciousness. 

In  that  sick  chamber,  where  the  eldest  son  lay  in  a  struggle 
for  life  or  death,  the  family  put  off  all  the  weaknesses  and  affec- 
tations, which,  under  other  circumstances,  would  certainly  have 
provoked  the  pitying  contempt  of  Fletcher  Rochford.  For  there 
was  in  this  man,  naturally,  a  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  and 
a  kind  of  vehement  impatience  of  all  sophistries  and  super- 
ficialities. He  could  not  affiliate  with  them.  He  liked  earnest, 
downright  people,  to  get  at  the  core  of  things,  and  one  of  his 
dangers  lay,  at  some  periods  of  his  life,  in  a  tendency  to  self- 
will  and  domination.  x 

But  the  man  who  could  see  down  with  such  an  unerring  aim 


50  DABRYLL    GAP,    OR 

into  the  faults  and  weaknesses  of  others,  had  been  candid  with 
himself.  He  knew  his  own  dangers  and  temptations.  He  had 
laid  them  bare  before  God,  as  man  never  can  to  the  tenderest 
human  love,  and  in  his  sore  strife  with  these  he  had  learned 
slowly  a  new  humility,  a  new  charity  for  others,  a  charity  that, 
as  his  years  ripened,  grew  more  all-embracing  in  scope  and 
depth.  He  remembered  always  that  it  was  for  just  such  sinners 
as  these,  that  the  Master  whom  he  served  put  aside  all  the  glory 
of  heaven  and  came  into  the  world  to  save. 

John  Darryll's  face  smoothed  out  of  its  hard  lines,  when  he 
entered  the  sick  room  every  morning  with  the  doctor,  and  his 
wife  forgot  that  she  had  the  part  of  mistress  of  her  elegant 
house  to  sustain,  and  was  only  the  absorbed,  anxious,  self-sac- 
rificing mother,  that,  let  come  what  would,  of  good  or  evil,  of 
prosperity  or  adversity,  lay  at  the  bottom  of  this  woman's  na- 
ture, as  strong  as  life  itself. 

Ella,  too,  put  aside  the  larger  half  of  her  airiness  and  per- 
emptoriness,  and  was  at  Andrew's  bedside,  at  least,  the  serious, 
kindly  sister ;  and  Agnes  and  her  brothers,  after  their  own 
fashion,  indicated  the  fear  and  hope,  which  for  the  time  super- 
seded all  others,  and  drew  the  whole  family  together  in  one 
close  bond  of  sympathy. 

But  there  was  one  face  which,  in  the  eyes  of  Dr.  Roch- 
ford, wore  always  an  intenser  strain  of  anxiety  and  ten- 
derness than  any  of  the  others.  Perhaps  it  did  not  to  nurse 
or  watcher,  but  for  him,  he  could  not  dissociate  it  from  that 
fair,  white  face,  with  the  awful,  appealing  terror  which  held 
possession  of  it  on  that  midnight,  when  he  opened  the  door  and 
it  first  lifted  itself  to  him  out  of  the  darkness.  And  for  this 
face,  half  unconsciously  to  himself,  Dr.  Rochford  looked  often- 
est,  and  to  it  he  most  frequently  addressed  himself  during  those 
long  days,  when  death  hung  darkly  over  the  splendid  home  of 
the  Darrylls,  just  as  it  hangs,  sooner  or  later,  alike  over  palace 
and  hovel. 

But  the  strong  youth  of  Andrew  Darryll  fought  the  battle 
bravely,  and  came  out  at  last  victorious.  Dr.  Rochford  knew 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  51 

this  before  lie  had  seeii  his  patient,  when  Rusha  came  out  sud- 
denly one  morning  from  the  sick  chamber,  and  met  him  on  the 
landing. 

There  was  a  bright,  warm  agitation  over  all  her  face.  "  O, 
doctor !  "  she  said,  springing  towards  him,  in  her  irrepressible 
gladness  —  "  he  slept  three  hours  last  night,  and  woke  up  and 
knew  us  all !  He  will  get  well  now  ?  " 

"  I  believe  so  —  God  willing  !  " 

The  tears  spun  into  her  eyes.  He  saw  her  try  to  shut  them 
back  quickly,  but  they  baffled  her,  dripping  through  her  eyelids, 
and  making  a  sudden  dew  on  her  cheek.  She  turned  away  with 
a  little  apologetic  gesture,  but  without  uttering  a  single  word, 
and  he  wondered,  as  his  glance  followed  her  to  her  own  chamber, 
whether  this  girl  would  forget  to  carry  her  new  joy  to  the  God 
who  had  given  back  to  them  her  brother's  life.  But  somehow 
he  did  not  wonder  this  of  any  of  the  others,  although  John 
Darryll  met  him  at  the  chamber  threshold  with  that  sharp,  busi- 
ness look,  half  superseded  by  some  other  feeling  which  just  now 
possessed  the  uppermost  room  in  his  heart  and  thought,  and  he 
grasped  the  young  doctor's  hand,  and  said,  with  fervent  grati- 
tude, "  There  is  no  mistaking  that  he  is  better.  Sir,  you 
have  saved  my  boy's  life  ! " 

And  the  weak,  anxious  mother,  who  had  never  left  the  post 
by  her  sou's  bedside,  looked  up  and  waited  in  a  tumult  of  hope 
and  fear  for  the  doctor's  verdict. 

He  did  not  even  touch  the  invalid's  pulse  ;  he  just  glanced  at 
the  pale  face,  with  the  soft,  warm  glow  of  slumber  all  over  it, 
and  he  said,  "  The  crisis  is  past,  now  ;  yon  must  go  at  once  to 
your  own  room,  Mrs.  Darryll,  and  get  the  rest  that  you  need." 

Mrs.  Darryll  tottered  to  the  nearest  chair ;  the  sudden  relief 
from  the  awful  fear  Avhich  had  held  her  for  days  was  too  much 
for  the  weak  nerves  that  had  borne  themselves  bravely  through 
the  crisis.  She  sank  into  hysterics. 

Before  the  next  week  was  over  Andrew  Darryll  had  made 
rapid  marches  on  the  way  to  recovery,  and  the  household,  which 
had  intermitted  for  a  little  while  its  life  of  ambitions  and  affec- 
tations, was  settling  back  into  the  old  grooves  again. 


52  DAEEYLL    GAP,    OR 

Ella  was  the  first  to  react.  As  soou  as  the  pressure  of  im- 
mediate danger  was  over,  the  glamour  of  that  world  which  made 
her  life  resumed  its  old  domination  over  her. 

Andrew's  room  became,  for  several  hours  of  each  day,  a  sort 
of  centre  of  attraction  to  the  whole  household,  and  as  his  conva- 
lescence advanced,  animated  discussions  on  all  domestic  topics 
ensued  about  his  bedside,  with  the  mother's  ever-recurring 
parenthesis  —  "  Hush,  there,  children  !  You  shall  every  one 
leave  the  room,  if  you  make  such  a  noise.  How  can  the  poor 
boy  ever  get  well,  with  such  a  set  of  magpies  around  him  ?  " 

As  for  Andrew,  this  illness  brought  out  the  best  side  of  the 
young  man.  Whatever  lesson  this  misfortune  might  have  for 
him,  he  was  obliged  to  apply  it  himself,  for  even  his  father,  who 
was  not  usually  backward  in  attributing  blame  where  he  fancied 
it  deserved,  could  not  regard  Andrew  as  anything  but  the  victim 
of  others'  cruelty,  not  perceiving,  as  he  would  if  his  son  had  not 
met  with  so  summary  a  punishment,  that  the  young  man  was 
equally  involved  in  fault  with  his  companions. 

Mrs.  Darryll  would  have  regarded  it  as  barbarous  cruelty  to 
charge  Andrew  with  the  slightest  blame,  "  after  all  the  poor 
boy  had  suffered  ;  "  and,  if  this  was  the  sentiment  of  the  older 
members  of  the  family,  the  younger  ones  would  not  be  likely  to 
get  in  advance  of  it. 

But  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  the  young  man's  conscience  — 
and  Andrew  had  one,  under  all  his  faults  and  selfishnesses  — 
would  make  itself  heard  as  he  lay  in  the  grasp  of  that  weakness 
and  suffering  which  his  own  sin  had  brought  down  on  himself. 

One  morning,  less  than  a  week  after  the  crisis  had  passed, 
Ella  came  into  the  chamber,  hardly  able  to  restrain  her  eager- 
ness sufficiently  to  close  the  door  softly,  as  the  sufferer's  head 
required.  "  We've  had  invitations  to  a  dinner-party  at  the 
Leavitts'  for  to-morrow  night ;  how  I  wish  we  could  go  — 
don't  you,  Rusha !  " 

"  No,  I  never  want  to  go  to  another  party,  seems  to  me, 
when  I  remember  our  last  one." 

Rusha,  with  her  impatient  impulses,  always  spoke  on  first 


WHETHER   IT  PAID.  53 

thought.  Did  some  twinge  of  the  broken  ribs  make  Andrew 
wince,  or  did  the  swift  shadow  which  crossed  his  face  have  its 
rise  in  that  association  of  his  sister's,  for  which  he  could  not  but 
hold  himself  responsible? 

Nobody  noticed  it  at -the  moment,  and  Ella  continued,  half 
apologetic,  half  on  the  defensive :  "  But  you  see,  Rusha,  this 
isn't  a  real  party  ;  only  a  little  dinner  company  of  a  dozen  or  so, 
and  two  or  three  tables  of  euchre  for  the  evening.  I  can't  see 
what  harm  there  is  in  going  now.  Andrew 's  getting  well ;  but 
of  course  I'm  ready  to  stay  at  home  if  it  will  be  of  the  slightest 
use." 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it ;  you've  been  kept  in  the  house  long  enough 
for  me,  and  it  must  be  an  awful  bore.  Go,  and  have  a  good 
time,  girls,"  here  interposed  Andrew  Darryll,  with  the  authority 
of  convalescence. 

"  I'd  rather  stay  at  home,"  said  Rusha,  with  that  sort  of  im- 
patient decisiveness  which  indicates  a  sensitive  and  forcible 
nature,  whether  for  good  or  evil.  "  Dinner  parties  are  to  me 
always  intolerable  bores  ;  and  I  hate  euchre  !  "  with  a  little 
series  of  shudders,  as  the  name  suggested  some  insufferably 
stupid  evenings. 

"  Rusha,  you  are  the  oddest  girl,  now  1  The  Leavitts  are 
among  the  first  people  in  our  set.  One  is  sure  to  meet  the  best 
folks  there,  and  their  attention  is  really  very  flattering  to  us." 

"  Well,  I'll  cheerfully  make  over  my  share  in  it  to  you,  and 
I'll  stay  at  home  with  Andrew,"  voice  and  face  softening  out  of 
their  coldness  as  she  glanced  in  the  direction  of  the  couch. 

"Had  you  really  rather,  Rusha?"  It  was  an  auspicious 
feature  of  Andrew's  illness  that  he  now  displayed  an  interest  in 
his  sister's  wishes  which  he  never  had  in  health. 

"  Really,  I'd  rather,  Andrew,"  and  she  went  over  to  the  bed- 
side now,  and  laid  her  little  soft,  cool  hand  on  his  forehead. 
She  never  had  ventured  such  a  caress  but  once  before. 

Ella,  unmindful  of  this,  stood  absorbed  in  thought,  drumming 
softly  on  the  window  pane.  She  turned  round  at  last  — 

"  I  shall  wear  my  blue  moire-antique,  with  my  point  lace  set 
5* 


54  DARRYLL    OAF,    OR 

and  the  new  pearls.  The  whole  will  look  splendid  in  the 
evening,"  and  she  hurried  out  of  the  room,  intent  on  some  minor 
arrangements  for  her  toilet. 

"  It  was  too  bad  —  too  bad  !  "  murmured  Andrew,  as  the  door 
closed  on  his  sister,  and  he  thought  Ruslia  had  followed  her. 

"What  is  too  bad,  Andrew?"  sitting  down  now  in  the  wide 
easy-chair  by  his  bedside. 

"  I  didn't  know  that  you  were  here,  Rusha." 

"No  matter  —  tell  me,  Andrew." 

"  That  I  spoiled  the  party  for  you  all  the  other  night." 

She  put  down  her  soft  warm  cheek  to  his  on  the  bed  — 

"Dear  Andrew,  we  never  thought  of  that  —  only  that  your 
life  was  spared  to  us." 

"  But  that  does  not  make  it  any  better  for  me,  you  know.  I 
was  a  great  rascal,  Rusha." 

"  You  are  a  great  big  darling  now,  any  way  !  " 

He  laughed  at  this  speech,  which  gave  such  inherent  evi- 
dence of  coming  from  a  woman's  lips.  But  suddenly  her  face 
grew  .serious. 

"  O,  Andrew,  you  will  promise  me  one  thing ;  promise  me 
for  all  the  life  to  come ! "  and  she  clung  to  him,  as  he  lay  there 
on  the  sick  bed. 

"What  is  it?" 

"  That  you  will  never  gamble,  never  drink  at  the  club  again, 
so  long  as  you  live,  no  matter  what  temptations  beset  you,  no 
matter  how  your  friends  entreat  you,  or  how  they  try  to  break 
down  your  promise  by  argument  and  ridicule  !  " 

The  tears  entered  Andrew  DarrylPs  eyes. 

"  Yes,  I  promise  you,  Rusha.  There's  no  safety  for  a  fellow, 
only  to  stand  up  stiff,  and  stick  to  his  word  through  thick  and 
thin,"  half  to  himself. 

"  Put  your  hands  in  mine,  and  promise  me  then,  solemnly, 
that  let  come  what  will,  you  cannot  be  moved  —  you  will  never 
drink  —  never  gamble  again  !  " 

He  laid  his  hand  on  hers,  and  repeated  the  promise,  strong  in 
his  own  strength,  not  knowing  that  that  would  be  like  flax  before 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  55 

devouring  flames.  What  an  easy  matter  it  seemed  to  make 
this  promise,  lying  there  in  the  shadowy  sick  chamber,  with  all 
the  high,  fierce  spirit  of  his  youth  put  to  sleep  by  his  long  ill- 
ness !  How  small  a  thing  it  looked  to  both  brother  and  sister 
to  keep  to  the  right  then !  Ah,  how  little  they  either  of  them 
guessed  through  what  fire  of  temptations,  through  what  awful 
stress  and  strain  of  body  and  soul,  he  must  hold  fast,  as  for  life 
or  death,  to  the  pledge  he  had  made  !  The  noisy,  greedy  world 
stood  outside,  waiting  its  time,  and  neither  of  these  young  souls 
had  learned  by  experience,  that  the  only  safe  anchorage  for 
them,  when  the  trial  came  down  mightily,  was  the  grace  of 
Him  who  has  said,  "  Ye  shall  not  be  tempted  above  that  ye  are 
able  to  bear." 


56  DAEETLL   GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    VI. 

IT  was  a  pleasant  thing  to  see  the  Darryll  family  on  that 
noon,  three  weeks  later,  when  Andrew  came  down  stairs,  by 
the  doctor's  permission,  to  dine.  Every  one  partook  of  the 
general  joy  of  seeing  him  resume  his  old  seat,  although  the 
sharp,  pale  face,  and  the  dark  rings  around  the  eyes,  presented 
a  sad  contrast  to  the  strong,  healthy  countenance  in  its  opening 
manhood,  which  sat  there  a  month  and  a  half  before. 

"  Old  hoss,  it's  jolly  to  see  you  down  here  again,"  said 
Tom,  giving  his  brother  so  hearty  a  slap  on  the  shoulder 
that  it  sent  a  twinge  through  him ;  but  Andrew  was  in  too 
pleased  and  softened  a  mood  to  "growl"  now,  as,  in  his  well 
days  he  had,  over  smaller  annoyances. 

"Bless  his  heart  —  so  it  is!"  said  Mrs.  Darryll,  the  face 
under  her  elaborate  cap  in  a  glow  of  tenderness,  and  she  looked 
as  though  she  were  half  inclined  to  spring  right  up  from  the 
table,  rush  round  to  her  son,  and  give  him  a  real  motherly  hug. 

But  the  presence  of  the  waiter,  and  a  lurking  feeling  that 
there  might  be  something  that  savored  of  low  breeding  in  any 
strong  display  of  emotion,  prevented  the  maternal  demonstra- 
tion. 

"  Have  a  little  of  the  turkey,  Andrew?"  asked  Mr.  Darryll, 
who  was  rapidly  dismembering  a  fowl,  over  whose  prepara- 
tion a  scientific  cook  had  presided.  "  You  know  the  doctor  says 
you  may  indulge  temperately  now,  in  whatever  your  appetite 
craves." 

"  I'll  take  some  of  the  breast,"  said  Andrew.  "  Capital  fel- 
low, that  doctor,"  he  continued.  "You  don't  know,  Ilusha, 
what  you  missed  this  morning  when  you  were  out  riding  with 
mamma,  for  he  told  Ella  and  me  about  his  first  visit  to  Pom- 
peii." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  57 

"  I  dou't  believe  she'd  have  given  up  '  Central  Park,'  though, 
for  any  story.  You  ought  to  have  seen  the  ecstasies  she  went 
into  over  it,"  remarked.  Mrs.  Darryll. 

"  O,  it  was  beautiful ! "  said  Rusha,  with  that  indrawn 
breath  which,  with  her,  always  expressed  her  highest  sense  of 
enjoyment.  "  I  seemed  all  the  time  to  be  riding  through  some 
enchanted  land,  and  I  really  began  to  wonder  whether  there 
were  such  things  as  sorrow,  pain,  misery,  in  the  world.  There 
were  the  trees  all  astir  with  the  new  spring  life  in  them,  and 
the  little  birds  singing  everywhere  for  joy,  and  the  sweet,  fresh 
smell  of  the  sprouting  grasses,  that  carried  me  back  to  the  old 
field  beyond  the  house  at  Mystic,  and  the  warm,  bright  spring 
sunshine  over  everything,  and  the  charming  pictures  one  came 
upon  at  every  new  curve  of  the  road.  I  wanted  to  stay  there 
forever.  Wasn't  it  enchanting,  mamma  ?  " 

"  Well,  yes,  I  must  say  it  was  pretty.  Take  a  little  of  the 
cranberry  sauce,  Andrew  ?  " 

Ella  burst  into  a  merry  laugh.  She  had  a  quick  sense  of 
the  ridiculous. 

"  Mother  never  will  sympathize  with  your  enthusiasms, 
Rusha.  She's  hopelessly  practical.  And  for  my  part  I  must 
own  that  I  think  Central  Park  is  a  sort  of  bore  when  you've 
been  over  it  a  few  times.  I  enjoy  it,  though,  on  Saturday  af- 
ternoons, when  the  drive  is  full  of  elegant  turnouts,  and  the 
music  —  O,  that  is  ravishing  !  " 

"  To  me,  that  is  the  least  agreeable  season  to  visit  the  Park." 

"  O,  well,  that's  because  you  are  funny,  Rusha." 

"  Funny,"  and  "  odd,"  were  the  two  very  inadequate  adjec- 
tives in  which  Ella  habitually  concentrated  her  sense  of  her 
elder  sister's  strong  individuality. 

"  But  I  should  like  to  hear  what  the  doctor  said  about  Pom- 
peii. Can't  you  repeat  it?"  asked  Rusha,  too  familiar  with 
Ella's  ambiguous  expressions  respecting  her  character  and  con- 
duct to  bestow  a  second  thought  on  them. 

"  O,  it  would  spoil  it  all,  Rusha,  to  give  the  story  second- 
hand. You  must  get  him  to  repeat  it.  Dr.  Rochford  is  splen- 


58  DARRTLL    GAP,    OR 

did  —  only  somehow  I  never  feel  quite  at  my  ease  with 
him." 

"  I  never  thought  of  that,  Ella,"  said  Eusha.  "  There  is 
more  thought,  sense,  cultivation  in  what  he  says  in  five  minutes, 
than  there  is  in  a  whole  evening's  chatter  with  the  silly-brained, 
daintily-gloved  puppets  one  meets  at  parties.  How  insufferable 
they  are ! " 

"  "Why,  Rusha,  how  severe  you  are  ! "  exclaimed  Ella,  in  a 
tone  which  seemed  to  resent  this  remark,  almost  *as  a  personal 
affront.  "  J  don't  think,  with  all  Dr.  Rochford's  superiority, 
that  he  is  as  agreeable  as  some  gentlemen  we  have  met  in  so- 
ciety—  but  perhaps  that  is  because  he  is  not  my  style." 

"Who  is  one  of  those  gentlemen,  then?"  asked  Rusha,  in  a 
tone  which  indicated  her  profound  belief  that  her  sister  must 
now  beat  an  ignominious  retreat. 

"  Well,  for  instance,  Mr.  Derrick  Howe." 

If  a  slight  reluctance  preceded  the  name,  she  brought  it  out 
full  and  decisive  at  last. 

"  Derrick  Howe ! "  repeated  Rusha  Darryll,  settling  her 
knife  and  fork  on  her  plate,  and  herself  back  in  her  chair. 
"  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  you  would  compare  such  a  man 
as  Dr.  Rochford  with  Derrick  Howe !  The  very  idea  is  pre- 
posterous !  Why,  he  isn't  to  be  mentioned  ia  the  same  day 
with  him ! "  her  remarks  growing  in  exaggeration  as  they  in- 
creased in  number,  after,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the  tendency  of 
her  sex. 

"  That  is  because  he  doesn't  happen  to  be  after  your  style, 
Rusha,"  coming  to  the  defence  with  considerable  vehemence. 
"  Mr.  Howe  is  a  most  accomplished  gentleman,  I  am  sure,  and 
is  considered  a  great  ornament  to  society,  and  any  lady  may 
regard  herself  honored  on  whom  he  chooses  to  bestow  his  at- 
tentions/' 

"  That's  a  matter  of  opinion,"  with  a  tone  whose  meaning 
was  unmistakable. 

"Who's  that  —  who's  that,  girls?"  interposed  Mr.  Darryll, 
who  had  leisure  now  to  attend  to  his  daughters'  talk,  while  the 
waiter  was  busily  putting  the  table  in  order  for  dessert. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  59 

"We  were  talking  about  Mr.  Derrick  Howe  —  you  remem- 
ber, pa,  the  gentleman  that  the  ladies  admired  so  much  at  our 
party?" 

The  successful  speculator  was  on  the  whole  a  tolerably 
shrewd  judge  of  men.  He  had  a  certain  acquired  sharpness  in 
gauging  their  depths,  which  was  the  natural  result  of  being 
constantly  thrown  amongst  them  in  a  variety  of  business  rela- 
tions. 

"  Confounded  lazy  dog,"  speaking  in  his  rapid,  decided  way. 
"  A  mere  lady's  man — just  fit  to  dandle  round  silly  girls,  make 
smooth  speeches,  and  pick  up  their  handkerchiefs.  No  solidity, 
no  depth  to  him.  Miserable  spendthrift  too  —  takes  on  airs  — 
run  through  what  was  left  of  his  father's  property,  and  lives 
now  on  his  old  name." 

Ella's  color  had  brightened  perceptibly  during  this  very  sweep- 
ing analysis  of  the  young  man's  character,  and  she  had  played 
with  her  napkin  ring  in  a  manner  that  would  have  indicated  to 
a  close  observer  both  disturbance  and  displeasure ;  but  she  con- 
tented herself  with  muttering  in  an  undertone  to  Agnes,  who 
happened  to  sit  next  her  — 

"  Papa  generally  does  people  injustice  whom  he  does  not 
understand." 

"  I  say,"  said  Tom,  during  the  process  of  amalgamating  the 
sauce  with  his  pudding,  "  I  saw  a  real  lady  last  night.  No 
airs  nor  fol-de-rol,  but  the  genuine  article  —  Simon  pure." 

"  AVhere  did  you  come  across  her  —  at  Barnum's  Museum?" 
asked  Ella,  something  having  ruffled  her  humor,  which,  in 
justice  to  her,  was  generally  a  good  one. 

"  Barnum's  Museum  !  "  repeated  Tom,  indignantly.  "  If 
you  meant  that  for  a  joke,  it's  a  failure.  I  saw  her  in  her  own 
house  —  and  that  happened  to  be  just  across  the  street  —  when 
I  called  about  that  last  prescription  for  Andrew.  The  lady  was 
the  doctor's  sister ;  I  knew  that  as  soon  as  I  set  my  eyes  on 
her,  though,  you  come  to  search  for  it  close,  the  family  likeness 
isn't  striking." 

"  O,  do  tell  me  about  her,  Tom.  What  did  she  say  ?  "  asked 
Itusha,  in  a  voice  that  betrayed  keen  interest. 


60  DAERJLL    GAP,   OB 

"  There  isn't  much  to  tell.  We  didn't  talk  more  than  three 
minutes  before  the  doctor  came  in.  It  was  all  in  the  tone, 
movement,  manner ;  and  that  spoke  for  itself.  There  are 
plenty  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  got  up  for  occasions.  On  the 
street,  in  a  call,  or  at  a  party,  they're  all  right ;  but  this  one 
you'd  know  somehow  would  be  a  lady  just  the  same  down  in 
the  kitchen,  with  her  washerwoman,  with  her  seamstress,  or  on 
the  loneliest  island  in  the  world.  It's  in  her  —  a  part  of  her- 
self as  much  as  the  color  of  her  eyes.  And  that's  the  kind  I 
like  —  not  those  that  are  off  and  on  —  help  me  out  with  it, 
Rusha." 

"  Intermittent  ladies  is,  I  suspect,  what  you  mean." 

"  That's  it.  You  always  do  scent  out  the  right  word  for  a 
fellow,  just  as  a  cat  will  go  straight  to  the  hole  where  the 
mouse  is." 

"  That's  a  .pretty  compliment,  Tom,  only  you  might  have 
put  it  in  prettier  words." 

"  O,  bother !  A  fellow  can't  be  always  mincing  after  his 
speech  like  a  pedagogue.  So  he  gets  the  meaning  out,  that's 
the  chief  thing." 

Here  Guy  spoke  up.  "  O,  father,  I  saw  your  name  in  the 
paper  this  morning  as  one  of  the  directors  of  the  new  *  Ameri- 
can Eagle  Petroleum  Company.'  I  didn't  know  as  you'd  gone 
in  there." 

"  They've  got  my  name  in  !  "  dipping  a  corner  of  his  napkin 
in  the  finger-glass.  "  I  didn't  know  anything  about  it  either, 
until  two  or  three  days  ago,  when  a  couple  of  the  stockholders 
called  to  see  me  and  said  they  would  like  to  have  my  name, 
and  would  put  me  down  for  a  thousand  shares." 

"What  did  that  mean,  husband?"  asked  Mrs.  Darryll,  and 
the  sons  and  daughters  listened  attentively.  Anything  that 
concerned  "  pa's  "  credit  or  importance  was  interesting  to  the 
whole  family. 

So  John  Darryll  sat  at  the  head  of  his  table,  with  a  pleasant 
sense  of  increased  weight  in  both  his  social  and  financial  relations. 

"  O,  men  don't  do  such  things  for  nothing.     I  saw  through 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  61 

the  wire-pulling  at  once.  I've  got  up  a  name  now  for  success 
in  '  striking  ile,'  and  the  men  who  are  getting  up  the  new  com- 
pany thought  it  would  go  down  better  if  '  John  Darryll, 
Esquire,'  showed  in  capitals  amongst  them ;  and  the  thousand 
shares  was  simply  a  complimentary  way  of  buying  the  use  of 
it.  It's  all  a  fair  bargain  in  business." 

"  But  do  you  know  whether  this  new  company  is  likely  to 
succeed  —  they  say  the  market's  glutted  with  bogus  ones  ?  " 
inquired  Tom. 

"  That's  true  enough.  This  is  as  likely  to  turn  out  a  rotten 
concern  as  any  of  the  others  ;  but  that's  not  my  business ;  I 
didn't  offer  to  sell  my  name,  but  I  let  them  have  it  when  they 
asked  for  it,  and  they  gave  me  what  they  thought  it  was  worth." 

"  Somebody  '11  be  pretty  certain  to  get  their  fingers  scorched," 
remarked  Guy,  oracularly. 

"  Somebody's  pretty  certain  to  every  day,"  added  his  father. 
"  The  way  a  large  proportion  of  these  petroleum  companies  is 
managed  is  a  warning  to  a  man  to  look  sharp  on  all  sides  be- 
fore he  goes  in,  or  he  will  be  singed  as  sure  as  he's  alive.  A 
few  men,  who  understand  the  ropes,  will  buy  a  piece  of  land 
somewhere  among  the  oil  regions  for  a  mere  song,  set  the 
people  wild  about  the  fortunes  it  promises  to  yield  —  the  know- 
ing ones  are  up  to  that  sort  of  thing  —  crowd  the  stock  into  the 
market,  get  a  few  strong  names,  and  blow  the  trumpets  in  the 
newspapers ;  and  so  the  green  ones  go  in,  expecting  to  reap 
tremendous  fortunes  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  and 
ten  to  one  get  wofully  bit."  Proving  by  his  concluding  sen- 
tence, which  was,  in  his  own  estimation,  the  sum  of  all  the 
others,  that,  however  sound  John  Darryll  might  be  iu  petro- 
leum, he  was  "  shaky"  in  some  of  the  root  principles  of  gram- 
mar. 

"  What  a  dishonorable  piece  of  business  !  No  decent  man 
would  have  anything  to  do  with  it  1 "  exclaimed  Rusha,  in  a 
heat  of  indignation. 

"  Plenty  of  men  who  call  themselves  decent  do,"  answered 
her  father,  emphatically.     "  In  war  all's  fair.     And  it's  pretty 
6 


62  DABETLL    GAP,   OR 

much  so  in  business.  If  a  man  won't  look  out  for  himself,  no- 
body is  going  to  trouble  himself  to  do  it  for  him.  This  world 
is  pretty  largely  made  up  of  two  sorts  —  those  that  know  how 
to  feather  their  nest  and  those  that  allow  themselves  to  be 
plucked ;  and  the  latter's  the  larger  by  a  vast  odds." 

With  which  philosophical  view  of  life,  Mr.  Darryll  helped 
himself  to  some  nuts,  complacently  reflecting  that  he  belonged 
to  the  fortunate  minority  of  his  classification. 

"  But,  pa,"  continued  Rusha,,  "  you  don't  suppose  that  this 
'  American  Eagle  Petroleum  Company,'  which  has  your  name, 
is  one  of  these  abominable  impositions  you've  been  talking 
about?" 

"  I  don't  suppose  anything  about  it.  It's  not  my  concern. 
The  stockholders  must  look  out  for  that.  It's  just  what  I  said 
—  likely  to  be  a  rotten  thing  as  any  of  them." 

"  But  as  your  name  is  there,  it  seems  to  me  you're  respon- 
sible for  the  honor  of  the'  company." 

"  Not  at  all ;  I  didn't  ask  them  to  take  my  name.  It  was 
their  own  offer." 

"  Well,  but  you  allowed  the  company  to  retain  it,  and  it 
seems  the  managers  fancied  it  would  have  influence  in  attract- 
ing others  to  invest." 

"  That's  their  look  out,  not  mine,  child.  The  concern  may 
be  a  sound  one  for  all  I  know,  and  if  it  isn't,  I  haven't  the  time 
to  poke  my  head  into  its  affairs  ;  and  the  probability  is,  all  would 
be  fair  outside,  and  if  the  thing  was  leaky  at  bottom,  I  shouldn't 
be  able  to  discover  it.  These  managers  are  shrewd  folks." 

Rusha  was  by  no  means  convinced.  That  stubborn  instinct 
of  truth,  that  going  right  down  to  the  core  of  things,  which  was 
perhaps  her  greatest  virtue,  made  her  sometimes  an  uncomfort- 
able opponent  in  an  argument,  at  the  bottom  of  which  lay  any 
sophistry. 

"  But,  pa,"  she  continued,  raising  her  voice  a  little,  till  its 
strong,  clear  earnestness  held  every  ear  at  the  table  attentive, 
"  a  man's  name,  wherever  he  puts  it,  is  his  bond,  his  pledge  of 
honor  and  integrity ;  and  yours  stands  a  witness  for  the  sound- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  63 

ness  of  this  Petroleum  Company  before  the  whole  world ;  and 
as  for  that  thousand  shares,  it's  a  mere  bribe,  so  long  as  you 
know  nothing  about  the  thing.  A  mean  business,  any  way  it 
can  be  shown.  If  it  was  my  name,  I  wouldn't  have  it  stand 
there  a  single  day." 

"  Rusha,  you  talk  like  a  woman,  or  a  foolish,  romantic  girl," 
answered  her  father,  in  a  slightly  irritated  tone.  "  What  do 
you  know  about  business  ?  " 

"  It  won't  do  to  carry  girlish,  high-flown  notions  into  that 
any  more  than  it  will  into  a  good  many  other  things  I've  told 
you  about,"  sagely,  if  not  very  luminously,  remarked  Mrs. 
Darryll,  probing  an  English  walnut  with  her  nut-picker. 

Rusha  never  deserted  an  argument  half  way.  "  But,  pa, 
supposing  now  that  some  ill-informed,  credulous  persons  — 
some  widows  or  orphans,  for  instance  —  taking  your  word  for 
just  what  it  means,  a  witness  for  the  integrity  of  this  company, 
should  invest  their  money  —  all,  perhaps,  they've  got  in  the 
woi-ld  —  in  these  shares,  and  the  whole  thing  should  turn  out 
bogus.  These  people  would  be  ruined,  and  the  influence  of 
your  name  there  would  just  do  it !  " 

"  Bravo  ! "  exclaimed  Tom,  "  Rusha's  got  the  best  of  the 
argument  now." 

"  Rusha  just  knows  nothing  at  all  about  it,"  subjoined  her 
father,  in  a  voice  tinctured  more  strongly  than  before  with 
annoyance.  "  It  don't  do  for  men  in  business  to  go  to  dealing 
with  '  supposes  '  and  '  perhapses.'  All  superfine  notions  of  that 
sort  must  be  left  to  people  who  don't  have  to  make  money,  and 
can  spend  their  time  hunting  up  nice  moral  distinctions." 

A  free  and  easy  style  of  conversation,  which,  if  it  lacked  rev- 
erence, had  its  advantages,  always  obtained  betwixt  parents  and 
children  in  the  household  of  the  Darrylls. 

Rusha's  face  settled  down  now  into  that  look  of  still  inflexi- 
bility which  they  all  understood  so  well,  and  which  was  so  apt 
to  terminate  any  family  discussions. 

"  Well,  there's  one  thing  I  do  know  if  I  do  stay  at  home," 
she  said,  "  and  that  is,  if  there  be  such  a  thing  as  right,  honor, 
truth,  they  ought  to  enter  into  one's  business  as  well  as  any 


64  DARRYLL   GAP,   OB 

other  duty  or  relation  in  life ;  and  if  my  name  stood  where 
yours  does,  pa,  my  conscience  would  give  me  no  rest  until  I'd 
had  it  struck  off,  and  the  company  could  take  back  their  shares 
until  I  knew  it  was  an  honest  one." 

"But  supposing  it  should  be  —  and  it's  as  likely  as  nine 
tenths  of  them  —  and  the  shares  should  yield  me  something 
handsome  in  the  way  of  dividends  —  what  then  ?  "  asked  her 
father,  a  little  triumphantly. 

"  I  don't  think  she'd  have  any  scruples  about  using  the  money 
in  that  case,  pa,"  interposed  Mrs.  Darryll,  who  somehow  felt  it 
incumbent  on  her  to  take  up  the  defence  in  behalf  of  her  hus- 
band —  more  anxious  that  her  children  should  think  it  would 
not  be  possible  for  their  father  to  do  anything  which  was  not 
strictly  just  and  right,  than  concerned  about  the  thing  itself. 
"  She  was  teasing  me  this  morning  for  an  India  shawl.  Just 
try  her  with  that,  and  I  don't  think  she'll  inquire  very  closely 
where  the  money  came  from  !  " 

There  was  a  loud  chorus  of  laughter,  in  which  all  the  young 
voices  joined,  Rusha's  as  heartily  as  any  of  the  others.  She 
could  always  bear  having  the  laugh  turned  against  her. 

"  She's  got  you  this  time,  Rusha !  "  said  Guy,  nodding  his 
head  towards  his  elder  sister. 

"  You've  made  a  strong  point  against  me,  ma,  but  I'll  be  true 
to  my  principles ;  I'll  give  up  the  India  shawl  if  pa  will  take 
his  name  from  the  '  American  Eagle  Petroleum  Company.'  " 

"  Good  !  Rusha  '11  die  game  !  "  said  Tom,  expressing  with 
more  emphasis  than  elegance  his  sense  of  his  sister's  adherence 
to  her  convictions  of  right. 

"  Pa,"  said  Ella,  "  I  don't  happen  to  be  troubled  with  any 
such  high-flown  notions.  You  just  hold  fast  to  the  shares,  and 
when  the  first  dividends  come  in,  let  me  have  an  India  shawl, 
and  I  won't  ask  any  questions." 

The  talk  had  grown  playful  now ;  and  yet  how  much  sober 
truth  underlay  it ! 

"  Michael,"  said  Mr.  Darryll  to  the  waiter,  settling  in  this 
way  the  matter  under  discussion,  "  let's  have  up  a  couple  of 
that  new  claret.  We'll  drink  to  Andrew's  recovery  this  time." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

"WELL,  who  is  going  to  church  this  morning?"  said  Mr. 
Darryll,  as  the  coachman  presented  himself  at  the  door  of  the 
sitting-room  one  Sunday  morning  for  orders. 

There  was  a  little  stir  amongst  the  assembled  family.  Mrs. 
Darryll  rose  up  and  walked  to  the  window,  from  which  the  sky 
afforded  a  narrow  limit  for  observations.  Hers  were  not  of  the 
most  promising  kind.  A  thin  gray  curtain  of  haze  covered  over 
the  sky,  with  here  and  there  a  little  seam  of  azure.  It  was  in 
early  April  now,  and  phases  of  the  sky  were  not  to  be  depended 
upon.  "  Do  you  think  it's  going  to  rain,  pa?  "  asked  the  lady, 
unable  to  reach  an  independent  conclusion. 

Mr.  Darryll  roused  himself  from  the  Sunday  Herald,  in  which 
he  was  again  deeply  buried,  smoothed  his  whiskers,  looked  out 
of  the  window.  "  Doubtful,"  was  his  verdict ;  "  wind  isn't  in 
the  right  direction." 

"  Well,  then,  we'll  have  the  carriage  up,  and  the  whole  family 
had  better  turn  out ;  it  looks  respectable,  and  your  father 's 
rented  one  of  the  best  pews." 

"  Mother  advocates  going  to  church  on  principles  of  econ- 
omy," laughed  Tom,  who  was  walking  up  and  down  the  room 
with  his  hands  in  his  pockets.  "  She'd  think  the  money  was 
wasted  if  every  seat  in  the  pew  wasn't  filled ! " 

There  was  a  laugh  at  mother's  expense,  which  she  bore  with 
equanimity.  And  then  Ella  turned  to  her  sisters  and  said, 
"Our  new  bonnets  came  last  night.  Don't  you  think  we'd 
better  go,  girls  ?  " 

Rusha  looked  up  from  her  book  with  a  sort  of  yawn.     "  I 
don't  think  that  motive  would  be  strong  enough  to  take  me  out 
of  the  house  to-day,"  she  said. 
6* 


66  DAEBTLL   GAP,    OR 

"  Why,  isn't  that  as  good  as  any?  "  asked  Guy,  who,  having 
passed  his  fifteenth  birthday,  had  attained  that  period  when 
boys  hold  their  opinions  with  a  little  more  positiveness  than 
they  do  at  any  other  period  of  their  lives.  "  I  thought  girls 
and  ladies  never  went  to  church  for  any  better  reason  than  to 
flourish  their  fine  dresses  and  bonnets  !  " 

Andrew  laughed,  and  called  Guy  a  "  trump  ;  "  but  Rusha  said 
nothing,  only  she  looked  serious. 

"  Come,  come,  this  isn't  settling  the  matter  about  church," 
iuterposed  Mrs.  Darryll.  "  Pa,  hadn't  you  better  go,  and  take 
all  your  boys  and  girls  ?  " 

"  Not  this  morning,  I  believe,  mother,"  getting  up  with  a 
yawn.  "  But  the  rest  of  you'd  better  muster  in  strong  force. 
Get  out  the  carriage,  Rufus,  at  half  past  ten." 

There  ensued  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  animated  discussion 
betwixt  Ella  and  Agnes  on  the  dresses  they  would  wear  that 
morning,  and  on  the  people  who  occupied  the  pews  adjoining 
theirs,  while  Rusha  walked  up  and  down  the  room,  as  was  a 
habit  with  her,  her  hands  locked  behind  her,  her  face  drooped 
forwards,  with  the  thoughtful  expression  that  always  gave  it  a 
touch  of  sadness. 

The  boys  had  distributed  themselves  in  various  lounging  atti- 
tudes. Tom  and  Guy  were  comparing  bosom-pins,  and  Andrew, 
who  was  now  able  to  accomplish  daily  the  descent  of  the  stairs, 
was  listening  to  the  talk,  and  laying  plans  for  the  next  week, 
when  he  expected  to  get  out  for  the  first  time. 

"  Pa,"  said  Ella,  suddenly  breaking  into  and  stopping  the 
chatter  of  her  brothers,  "  it's  April  already,  and  high  time  for 
us  to  make  our  plans  for  the  summer.  The  Lorings  were  ask- 
ing me  about  them  yesterday.  We  shall  shut  up  house,  of 
course,  at  the  commencement  of  the  season,  and  take  the  water- 
ing-places and  all  those  things  in  order  —  Newport,  the  White 
Mountains,  Saratoga,  and  Niagara.  We  can  do  them  all  in  one 
season,  and  we  ought  to  begin  to  see  about  our  wardrobes  by 
the  very  next  week." 

"  O,  won't  it  be  splendid  —  and  I  shall  go  too  !  "  said  Agnes, 
clapping  her  hands  with  girlish  enthusiasm. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  67 

"  Come,  come,  children  —  it's  Sunday ;  I'm  amazed  that 
you'll  talk  about  such  matters  to-day  !  "  said  Mrs.  Dairy  11,  who 
always  had  a  traditional  regard  for  religion  —  a  feeling  that  it 
was  something  proper  and  necessary  —  without  which,  in  short, 
no  family  could  be  respectable  in  this  world  or  safe  in  the  next. 
She  had  felt  it  her  duty  to  insist  upon  all  its  outward  obser- 
vances with  her  young  household,  such  as  going  to  church,  at- 
tending the  Sunday-school,  contributing  to  the  missionary  fund, 
subscribing  for  a  religious  paper,  and  was  always  ready  with 
pecuniary  and  personal  aid  for  all  societies  that  had  general  con- 
fidence and  patronage  for  good  works. 

She  had  faithfully  inducted  each  one  of  her  children  into  the 
catechism  and  commandments,  and  devoutly  believed  that  this 
system,  with  an  occasional  interlarding  of  pious  talk,  would 
amply  fortify  them  against  all  the  temptations  which  the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil  could  bring  to  bear. 

As  for  her  husband,  he  had,  in  a  general  way,  abetted  his 
wife's  practice,  believing  that  religion  was  a  good  thing  for 
women  and  a  growing  family.  It  helped  to  promote  general 
good  order  in  society,  as  well  as  in  households,  and  there  was 
no  doubt  something  in  it ;  but  just  what  or  how  much,  no  per- 
sonal experience  here  had  ever  enlightened  the  soul  of  John 
Darryll. 

"We  must  have  the  horses  at  the  watering-places,"  con- 
tinued Tom,  all  regard  for  his  mother's  reproval  absorbed  in 
the  interest  which  he  took  in  the  topic  under  discussion. 
*'  Young  Fordham  was  telling  me  about  the  crack  horses  they 
always  have  at  the  Springs,  and  the  races  they  had  there  last 
year.  Finest  that  ever  came  off.  Zounds  !  it  must  be  a  capital 
sight,  Andrew,  to  see  such  a  show  of  horse-flesh  !  " 

Before  the  elder  of  the  brothers  could  indorse  this  sentiment, 
Ella  broke -in  with  —  "  Of  course  we  shall  go  in  the  best  style 
if  we  go  at  all.  Our  carriage,  and  a  maid,  and  all  that,  will 
be  quite  indispensable." 

"  Boys  and  girls,"  interposed  Mrs.  Darryll,  this  time  with 
decided  authority,  "  I  should  like  to  know  if  you  are  a  set  of 


68  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

heathen !  What  do  you  s'pose  you're  all  coming  to,  talking 
about  horse-races  and  such  things  Sunday  morning?" 

"  Well,  for  my  part,  I  don't  see  as  it's  any  worse  to  talk 
about  those  things  than  it  is  about  '  Gold,  and  Hudson,  and 
Bank  Stocks,'  as  pa  does  every  Sunday,  when  he  can  get  any- 
body to  listen,"  answered  Ella,  with  some  acerbity,  being  placed 
so  strongly  on  the  defensive. 

"  I've  just  been  wondering,"  said  Rusha,  pausing  suddenly  in 
her  walk,  and  standing  still  by  the  table,  "  whether  there  is 
any  such  thing  in  the  whole  world  as  religion  ?  " 

"  Why,  Rusha ! "  exclaimed  her  mother,  lifting  up  both 
hands  —  "  how  you  do  talk  !  " 

"  Nevertheless,  it's  the  truth,  mother,"  her  voice  growing 
solemn  in  its  earnestness  ;  "  I  don't  mean  a  religion  of  tradi- 
tions or  respectabilities  ;  nor  one  of  forms  ;  nor  outside  ob- 
servances ;  but  I  mean  a  religion  of  the  heart  and  soul ; 
something  that  is  stronger  and  more  precious  than  life  itself; 
something  genuine  to  the  core,  known  and  lived  every  day ; 
something  that  one  can  hold  fast  through  all  loss  and  change, 
through  all  joy  and  sorrow,  and  that  one  knows  can  be  carried 
out  from  this  world  into  the  next." 

For  a  moment  nobody  spoke.  Mrs.  Darryll  looked  a  little 
solemn  and  perplexed.  Perhaps  just  then  each  soul  in  that 
room  had  some  vague  consciousness  of  inward  reproval  and 
need. 

"  I  s'pose  that  was  the  sort  of  religion  the  old  martyrs  had, 
when  they  lay  down  in  dungeons  and  went  to  the  stake  —  wasn't 
it,  ma  ?  "  said  Agnes. 

"  I  s'pose  it  was,  my  child,"  answered  the  lady  ;  but  somehow 
she  did  not  seem  quite  confident. 

"  They  lived  so  long  ago,"  continued  Rusha,  the  gravity  in 
her  face  touching  her  voice.  "  If  I  could  only  know  one  man 
or  woman  in  the  world  who  really  lived,  or  actually  tried  to,  the 
religion  that  so  many  profess  !  I  know  plenty  of  folks  that  are 
kind,  well-meaning,  good-hearted,  and  all  that ;  but  I  mean 
something  that  goes  deeper.  I  read  about  religion  in  books  ;  I 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  (59 

hear  the  ministers  preach  it ;  and  I  sometimes  long  to  say  boldly 
to  some  of  them,  '  Do  you  really  believe  what  you  say  up  there 
in  the  pulpit?  Do  you  carry  it  down  with  you  into  every-day 
life  ?  Is  it  more  to  you  than  your  salary,  your  position,  your 
honors  —  dearer  than  life  itself?  ' ' 

"  Then  there  are  the  missionaries,  you  know,"  subjoined 
Agnes,  somewhat  timidly. 

"  Hypocrites  and  humbugs,  half  of  'em  !  "  muttered  Guy  ; 
"  have  a  good  time  off  there,  converting  the  heathen,  and  mak- 
ing folks  at  home  support  'em." 

"  Guy,  don't  speak  in  that  way  of  good  folks,"  said  Mrs. 
Darryll,  regarding  it  incumbent  on  her  to  interfere,  and  yet 
unable  to  bring  the  slightest  argument  against  her  son's  whole- 
sale accusations. 

"  Of  course,"  continued  Rusha,  resuming  her  walk,  "  nobody 
doubts  that  there  are  good,  honest  people,  who  want  to  do  just 
what  is  right ;  but  how  far  these  are  in  their  beliefs  and  experi- 
ences the  victims  of  false  education  and  honest  mistake,  is  a 
question  beyond  my  depth.  I  wish  I  knew  where  truth  was  !  " 
speaking  half  to  herself  now. 

"  The  fact  is,  human  nature's  pretty  much  the  same  every- 
where ;  I've  found  that  out  in  my  dealings  with  men,"  remarked 
Mr.  Darryll.  "  Every  one  looks  out  sharp  for  himself.  Reli- 
gion sounds  well  in  the  pulpit  and  in  books,  and  is  all  right 
enough  in  its  way ;  but  these  fine-spun  theories  don't  answer  in 
the  hard  grip  and  tussle  of  life." 

"  In  short,  governor,  your  creed  isn't  founded  on  cant,  but 
on  hard  dollars  and  cents,"  said  Andrew,  attempting  to  be 
humorous. 

"  Well,  it's  my  opinion  every  man's  is,  in  the  long  run,  and 
get  to  the  bottom  of  the  matter,"  answered  paterfamilias , 
rumpling  his  Herald. 

"  And  when  one  looks  abroad  on  the  people  one  knows,"  con- 
tinued Rusha,  "  they're  no  better  than  we,  living  on  the  same 
plane,  influenced  by  just  the  same  motives,  pursuing  the  very 
same  objects.  I  wish,  as  I  said,  I  knew  one  man  or  woman  in 


70  DAEETLL    GAP,    OR 

the  whole  world  in  whose  intelligent  goodness  I  should  have 
solid,  unquestioning  faith." 

"  I  think,  for  my  part,  we're  about  as  good  as  most  folks," 
said  Ella,  a  little  annoyed  at  the  way  her  sister  disposed  of  her 
family  in  this  regard.  "  I'm  sure  pa  pays  a  tremendous  rent 
for  his  pew,  in  the  most  fashionable  church." 

"  Yes  ;  but  he  pays  that  to  the  god  of  fashion,  not  to  the  God 
of  the  church." 

"  Well,  I  presume  our  motives  are  just  as  good  as  our  neigh- 
bors'." 

"  That's  just  what  I  was  saying,"  answered  Rusha,  dryly. 

The  mother  interposed  here.  "  Come,  come,  girls,  you 
haven't  a  minute  to  spare.  Go  right  up  stairs  and  dress,  or 
you  won't  be  ready  for  church." 

Poor  Rusha  —  with  her  soul  groping  in  the  dark,  uttering  its 
long  plaint  for  something  which  the  world  could  not  give  it ! 

The  family  atmosphere  was  dense  and  material,  and  the  so- 
ciety amidst  which  she  moved  was  pretty  much  of  the  same 
quality.  She  had  never  been  thrown  into  the  company  of  high- 
minded  Christian  men  and  women,  and  though  all  that  was 
aspiring  and  truest  in  her  thrilled  responsive  when  she  heard 
of  the  excellence  of  goodness  and  the  beauty  of  truth  and  self- 
sacrifice,  she  wondered  whether  this  was  ever  brought  down 
into  the  actual  and  real  —  whether  these  high-spun,  rose-colored 
theories  ever  existed  outside  of  sermons  and  books.  Her  soul 
wanted  the  eternal  anchorage,  to  hide  itself  in  the  strong  tower 
of -the  blessed  promises  of  God.  Unsettled  and  uncertain,  it 
carried  through  the  days  the  doubts  that  would  not  be  silenced, 
the  chill  and  darkness  which  only  a  living  faith  in  Christ  Jesus, 
with  religious  culture  and  its  slow  daily  growth  in  the  soul, 
could  warm  and  illuminate. 

The  shallower  natures  of  the  others  could,  in  some  sense, 
satisfy  themselves  with  the  world  and  its  prosperities  ;  but  for 
her,  though  her  father  had  made  his  great  fortune,  though  lux- 
uries and  splendors  surrounded  and  persuaded  her  on  every 
side,  she  was  still  —  poor  Rusha  ! 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  71 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

"  CONFOUND  this  Administration !  Driving  the  country, 
neck  and  heels,  straight  into  ruin  !  " 

Having  thus  delivered  himself,  Mr.  Darryll  dashed  down  the 
paper  and  seized  the  poker,  and  commenced  a  vigorous  onslaught 
on  the  lowest  stratum  of  coals  —  this  exercise  proving  a  sort 
of  safety  valve  through  which  his  indignation  could  vent  itself. 

"  Dear  me,  John,  what  is  to  pay  now?"  asked  Mrs.  Dar- 
ryll, gathering  up  in  her  lap,  in  order  to  screen  it  from  a  shower 
of  ash  dust,  a  long  turnpike  of  white  ruffling,  over  which  her 
needle  was  laboriously  plodding. 

"  You  better  ask  me  what  isn't  to  pay  !  "  retorted  the  lady's 
spouse,  in  tones  which  indicated  a  strong  tendency  to  use  the 
poker  on  some  more  sentient  object  than  the  coals.  "  Block- 
heads and  knaves  at  the  head  of  our  Government.  Steered  us, 
with  their  eyes  open,  right  into  this  civil  war,  and  all  they  care 
for  now  is  to  feather  their  own  nests  and  run  everybody  straight 
into  bankruptcy.  Here  they  are  talking  about  another  draft, 
and  taxing  a  man  now  every  lime  he  turns  round.  We  can't 
stand  this  much  longer.  I  thought  when  we  commenced  this 
thing  we  were  going  to  put  it  through  in  nine  months ;  and 
now,  after  a  year  of  fighting,  the  end  looks  farther  off  than  at 
the  beginning ! " 

Mr.  Darryll  had  commenced  his  diatribes  on  civil  and  mili- 
tary affairs  with  only  his  wife  for  auditor,  she  being,  on  this 
ground,  one  of  the  acquiescent  and  monosyllabic  type,  her  opin- 
ions and  sentiments  on  all  public  matters  being  a  faithful  reflex 
of  her  husband's. 

This  was  not  precisely  the  case  with  the  sons  and  daughters, 
although  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  home-talk  colored  more 
or  less  the  political  views  of  most  of  them. 


72  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

And  one  after  another  the  boys  and  girls  had  dropped  in,  and 
stood  now  grouped  around  in  various  attitudes  of  indolence  or 
interest,  listeniug  to  the  conversation. 

"  But,  pa,"  interposed  Rusha,  standing  on  the  defensive, 
"  you  remember  that  Washington  made  a  greater  mistake  than 
our  Government  did  when  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  at  the  time  of 
his  taking  command  of  the  Continental  army,  that  the  war 
would  probably  be  over  by  the  following  autumn.  What  a 
point  the  Tories  must  have  made  of  that  false  prophecy  through 
all  the  seven  years  that  followed  !  " 

Mr.  Darryll  cleared  his  throat  in  order  to  gain  time.  He 
had  that  reverence  for  Washington,  and  all  the  great  actors  of 
the  Revolution,  which  is  inborn  with  every  American. 

"  That's  another  thing,"  he  said,  seizing  hold  of  the  first 
point  that  presented  itself.  "  The  questions  at  issue  are  en- 
tirely different.  We  haven't  got  any  such  men  now  as  we 
had  then." 

"  I  should  think  not,"  added  Ella,  who  had  a  constitutional 
dislike  of  radicalism,  and  a  general  impression  that  the  "first 
society  "  did  not  indorse  the  present  Administration.  "  Look 
at  Abraham  Lincoln  !  " 

"  What's  the  matter  with  him  ?  "  asked  Rusha,  tartly. 

Her  sister  was,  of  course,  ready  with  the  stock  objection. 

"  O,  he  isn't  a  gentleman.  Such  an  awkward,  inelegant  man 
at  the  head  of  our  nation  !  It's  really  dreadful !  " 
,  "  I  presume  that  your  dancing-master  would  do  the  honors 
of  the  White  House  with  a  much  better  grace  than  our  Presi- 
dent, and  that  is,  of  course,  much  more  important  than  sound 
wisdom  or  integrity  of  character,  than  strength  of  purpose  or 
love  of  justice  and  righteousness,  in  the  man  who  stands  at 
the  nation's  helm,  now  that  she  is  in  this  awful  peril  for  life 
or  for  death  !  " 

The  voice  of  Rusha  Darryll  held  now  that  lingering  sarcasm 
which  they  all  perfectly  understood,  and,  if  the  truth  must  be 
told,  secretly  dreaded  a  little. 

Ella  was  a  good  deal  nettled.     Of  course  her  position  was 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  73 

totally  indefensible,  now  that  moral  instead  of  physical  quali- 
ties formed  the  grounds  of  the  defence  ;  but  she  had  one  shaft 
left,  tipped  with  a  little  venom.  She  sent  it  home  now. 

"Are  you  an  abolitionist,  Rusha,  I  should  like  to  know? 
One  would  imagine  it  by  the  way  you  talk." 

That  name  had  had,  during  their  childhood,  an  exceedingly 
bad  odor  in  the  Darryll  family.  Perhaps  it  still  retained  some 
old  power  of  association  over  Rusha's  mind,  for  her  answer 
hardly  met  it  squarely ;  and  then  it  was  several  years  ago,  and 
people  have  grown  in  the  last  three. 

"  I  hardly  know  what  you  mean  by  abolitionist,  Ella ;  but 
of  one  thing  I  am  certain,  that  slavery,  in  any  form,  is  a  sin 
and  a  curse  to  a  people,  and  against  it,  so  long  as  I  live,  I  will 
set  my  face,  whatever  you  or  anybody  else  may  call  me." 

This  was  certainly  throwing  down  the  gauntlet  in  an  atmos- 
phere where  it  required  some  moral  courage  to  do  it ;  but  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  Rusha's  speech,  Guy  had  entered,  thus 
completing  the  family  circle.  The  boy  had  happened  during 
the  last  week  to  light  on  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  for  the  first  time, 
he  having  hitherto  religiously  avoided  it,  hearing  his  father, 
who  had  never  so  much  as  read  the  title  page,  denounce  the 
book  as  a  "  miserable  incendiary  work,"  this  remark  being 
plagiarized  from  an  adverse  newspaper  criticism. 

Of  course  with  the  first  chapter  Guy  was  committed  to  the 
end.  And  as  a  consequence  of  reading  the  book,  he  had  accepted 
an  invitation  of  a  young  friend*  given  half  in  sport,  to  go  and 
hear  Wendell  Phillips  lecture  the  preceding  evening. 

The  transcendent  power  of  the  book  had  wrought  strongly  on 
the  rough,  boyish  sympathies  of  Guy  Darryll,  and  the  eloquence 
of  the  lecturer  completely  brought  him  over.  His  family  was 
quite  ignorant  of  the  sudden  revolution  which  his  political  con- 
victions had  undergone,  and  each  one  was  electrified  to  see  him 
stand  up  boldly  now,  the  ruddy,  immature  face  glowing  with  the 
fervor  of  his  sentiments  as  he  delivered  them  — 

"  I  say  I'm  an  abolitionist  to  the  core  !  Go  in  for  the  nigger 
strong.  They've  just  as  good  rights  as  white  folks ;  and  so 
7 


74  DAEETLL    GAP,   OB 

long  as  they're  human  beings,  we've  no  business  to  buy  and 
sell  'em  ;  and  I'm  ready  to  fight  anybody  who  says  we  have  !  " 
growing  belligerent  as  he  proceeded. 

Guy's  avowal  was  received  with  shouts  of  merriment  by  his 
brothers,  and  with  various  interjections  of  surprise  or  dismay 
from  the  rest  of  the  family,  with  the  exception  of  Rusha,  who 
patted  her  youngest  brother  on  the  shoulder,  and  said,  encour- 
agingly — 

"  Bravo,  Guy  !     That's  the  sort  of  talk  I  like  !  " 

"  Well,  it  isn't  what  I  do,  by  a  long  shot,"  said  her  father, 
vastly  surprised  and  a  good  deal  displeased  at  this  defection  of 
his  youngest  son.  "  Where  in  the  world  did  you  get  such 
notions  as  those,  Guy  ?  " 

The  boy  had  an  impression  that  his  authorities  would  by  no 
means  enhance  the  value  of  his  convictions  in  his  father's  esti- 
mation ;  so  he  wisely  kept  them  to  himself,  only  saying,  with  an 
air  of  profound  sagacity,  in  amusing  contrast  with  his  boyish 
face  — 

"  O,  I've  thought  and  read  a  good  deal  lately  ;  and  these  are 
my  opinions,  and  I  shall  hold  them  as  long  as  I  live,  without 
fear  or  favor." 

"  Well,  all  I've  got  to  say  is,  you'd  better  wait  until  you're  a 
little  older  and  wiser  than  you  are  now,  before  you  put  forth 
your  sentiments  in  such  a  fashion,"  said  his  father. 

Guy,  secretly  primed  with  Wendell  Phillips  and  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe,  turned  suddenly  a  strong  fire  from  his  battery 
on  his  father  — 

"Do  you  approve  of  slavery,  father?  Do  you  think  it's 
right  to  sell  men  and  women  on  the  auction  block  as  though 
they  were  cattle?  Do  you  think  it's  right  to  separate  husbands 
and  wives,  and  tear  little  children  away  from  their  fathers  and 
mothers  —  to  hang  up  women  by  the  wrists  and  whip  their  bare 
backs  till  they're  raw,  and  send  blood-hounds  to  bring  them 
down  when  they  run  away  from  their  masters  ?  Do  you  think 
it's  right  to  do  these  things  because  one  man  has  a  white  skin 
and  the  other  a  black  one  ?  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  75 

John  Darryll  hemmed.  His  old,  sound  New  England  train- 
ing, and  at  bottom  the  sturdy  sense  of  right  and  justice,  the 
common  humanity  which  no  political  sophistries  nor  partisan 
feelings  could  overcome,  rose  up  in  stout  condemnation  of  the 
facts  that  young  boy  of  his  had  put  so  strongly. 

"  Of  course  I  don't,"  he  answered,  very  crossly,  but  still  very 
positively.  "  None  of  my  family  ever  heard  me  contend  that 
slavery  was  right.  I've  always  admitted  the  thing  was  a  wrong 
and  a  shame ;  but  as  we'd  got  it,  and  the  Constitution  admits 
it,  the  best  way  was  to  let  it  all  alone,  and  it  would  be  its  own 
remedy  in  time.  You  see  what  all  this  talk  and  agitation  about 
the  thing  has  brought  the  country  to  ;  I've  said  it  would  be  so 
for  years,  and  now  we've  got  into  a  war  with  no  end  to  it,  and 
nobody  to  manage  it." 

"  If  slavery  carries  its  own  remedy  in  itself,  why  doesn't 
murder,  or  arson,  or  any  other  crime  ?  "  persisted  Rusha. 

*'  There,  you  see,  pa,  I  told  you  so,"  said  Ella,  in  a  tone 
half  deprecatory,  half  positive.  "  Your  oldest  daughter  is  an 
out-and-out  abolitionist ! " 

"  Well,  I'm  sure,  John,  she  never  got  it  from  me,"  added 
Mrs.  Darryll. 

"  No,  ma,"  laughed  Rusha,  good  naturedly  — "  whatever 
my  opinions  are,  you  shan't  be  responsible  for  them." 

"  But,  Rusha,"  continued  Ella,  standing  by  the  mantel,  and 
looking  at  her  sister  with  some  perplexity,  "  I  do  think  you 
have  a  tendency  toward  isms.  You  have,  somehow  —  I  can't 
just  explain  \vhat  I  mean  —  the  sort  of  character  and  enthu- 
siasm that  runs  away  with  folks  !  I  shouldn't  wonder  the  least 
if  under  a  certain  set  of  influences  you  should  turn  Woman's 
Rights,  or  take  to  lecturing  in  public,  or  some  such  dreadful 
thing." 

"  You  are  complimentary,  Ella.  But  give  yourself  no  alarm, 
my  dear.  The  consciousness  of  my  own  fatal  lack  of  gifts  will 
keep  me  always  from  the  Rostrum." 

"  I'm  not  so  sure  about  that,"  added  Tom.  "  Rusha  can 
talk,  when  she  gets  the  steam  on,  better  than  a  good  many  miu- 


76 

isters ;  and  then  she  always  looks  so  well  when  she  gets  ex- 
cited !  " 

"  Tom,  don't !  "  interposed  Ella  again,  her  imagination  tak- 
ing the  alarm  at  even  the  playful  suggestion  of  such  a  prospect. 
"  If  the  day  should  ever  come  when  my  sister  rises  up  in  a 
public  hall  to  speak,  I  shall  want  to  hide  my  head  the  rest  of 
my  life  for  shame ;  I  never  could  show  my  face  in  society  after 
such  a  disgrace  !  " 

"  You'd  better  think  of  something  that's  likely  to  happen," 
suggested  Mr.  Darryll,  who  never  gave  himself  much  concern 
about  improbabilities  of  this  sort. 

"  I  see  we're  going  to  have  another  draft,  and  it's  as  likely 
to  fall  on  Torn  or  Andrew  as  anybody." 

"  O,  pa  !  "  This  little  interjection  fell  from  Mrs.  Darryll ; 
but  it  said  what  the  hearts  of  mothers  with  goodly  sons  had 
been  saying  for  more  than  two  years  over  all  the  land.  An- 
drew's fractured  ribs  were  now  so  far  restored  as  to  make  an 
impending  draft  a  source  of  alarm  in  his  case. 

"  And  substitutes  cost  a  small  fortune  now-a-days,"  said  the 
head  of  the  family,  returning  to  the  old  ground  of  offence. 

"  But,  pa,  you  know  you'd  rather  pay  any  amount  of  money, 
than  have  either  of  your  boys  go  to  the  war  and  get  shot,  or 
fall  into  the  hands  of  those  dreadful  Rebels,"  expostulated  Mrs. 
Darryll.  "  We'd  better  make  any  sacrifices  rather  than  have 
that  happen." 

"  Yes  ;  I  wonder,  if  worse  came  to  worse,  how  many  gew- 
gaws your  girls  would  be  willing  to  sacrifice  at  the  watering- 
places,  where  they  intend  to  figure  this  summer  ?  "  retorted  Mr. 
Darryll,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  on  domestic  affairs 
the  ill  humor  engendered  by  a  contemplation  of  public  ones. 

"  I'm  sure  we'd  all  be  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice,  rather 
than  see  our  Andrew  or  Tom  go  to  the  war,"  answered  Mrs. 
Darryll,  meekly ;  and  Ella,  who  had  meditated  a  strong  attack 
on  her  father's  pockets  that  day  —  the  summer's  wardrobe  be- 
ing now  in  an  advanced  state  of  preparation  —  concluded  to 
defer  her  appeal  to  a  more  favorable  occasion. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  77 

One  thing  was  certain.  John  Darryll  was  an  habitual  grum- 
bler, and  his  threats  always  kept  far  ahead  of  his  deeds,  as  was 
a  fact  well  known  and  acted  on  at  all  times  in  the  bosom  of  his 
own  family. 

And  the  same  rule  would,  in  a  measure,  apply  to  his  habit 
of  regarding  all  public  affairs.  The  man  was  not  without  a 
feeling  of  patriotism.  The  echo,  as  it  rolled  over  the  land,  of 
the  first  shot  on  that  lonely  fort  by  the  sea,  had  roused  the 
lu'tirt  of  John  Darryll  with  the  rest  of  his  countrymen.  For 
the  time  being,  a  new  love  of  country,  a  burning  desire  to  avenge 
her  wrong  and  retrieve  her  honor,  superseded  every  other  feel- 
ing in  the  soul  of  the  man.  He  averred  himself  ready  to  take 
his  gun  and  go. down  South,  and  do  his  part  in  putting  down 
the  rebellion  that  had  taken  him  by  such  surprise ;  for  he, 
like  the  majority  of  Northern  men,  had  believed  in  his  heart 
that  South  Carolina,  and  the  other  seceded  states,  could  not 
be  really  "  in  earnest." 

But  John  Darryll  was  not  a  man  of  abiding  faith  in  things 
invisible.  He  had  not  those  strong  moral  convictions  which 
make  a  man,  no  matter  how  dark  and  desperate  a  cause  may 
seem,  anchor  his  hope  on  the  eternal  foundations  of  truth  and 
justice,  on  which  that  cause  rests. 

And  so,  when  defeat  and  disaster  overtook  our  armies  ;  when 
mistakes,  that  the  very  nature  of  things  rendered  unavoidable, 
were  committed  on  every  hand,  then  John  Darryll's  faith  waxed 
faint. 

Certainly  those  long  four  years  tried  every  man,  and  when 
Ihe  war,  with  its  high  prices  and  heavy  taxes,  began  to  touch 
the  pockets  of  men  like  Mr.  Darryll  —  that  was  their  weak 
point  —  then  they  began  to  grumble  at  the  blunders  and  tyran> 
nies  of  the  Government. 

John  Darryll  had  been  brought  up  in  a  school  of  the  old 
Jackson  and  Jefferson  type.  The  names  still  possessed  a  strong 
traditional  power  over  his  mind  ! 

That  both  these  men  were  fervent  patriots,  however  strongly 
partisan,  nobody  could  attempt  to  deny.    But  John  Darryll  had 
7* 


78  DABRYLL    GAP,    OR 

an  impression,  based  on  no  intelligent  insight  into  the  course 
of  events,  and  on  very  insufficient  knowledge  of  the  real  char- 
acter of  the  great  men  whose  names  were  always  on  his  lips, 
that  if  they  had  only  managed  affairs,  things  would  have  turned 
out  smooth  and  satisfactory  to  all  parties. 

He  had  no  wide  moral  outlooks,  and  present  mistake  or  dis- 
aster was  to  him  absolute  proof  of  either  incapacity  or  villany. 
And  how  many  men  were  there,  who  felt  and  talked  like  this 
one  through  all  the  nation's  long  four  years'  baptism  of  fire 
and  blood,  and  who  only  begin  to  see  with  clearer  vision  now 
that  the  cloud  and  fire  of  the  battle  are  rolling  away ! 

Blessed  are  those  who,  not  seeing,  yet  have  believed ! 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  79 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SICILY  ROCHFORD  had  been  absent  in  the  country  for  most 
of  the  spring,  visiting  a  sister  of  her  father's.  Two  or  three 
days  after  her  return  she  said  to  her  brother  —  "  Well,  Fletcher, 
I  hear  that  you  have  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  family  across 
the  street,  under  circumstances,  too,  which  are  apt  to  show  peo- 
ple's characters  in  dishabille,  as  physicians  oftenest  see  them. 
Tell  me  something  about  them." 

The  young  doctor  put  down  his  paper  and  leaned  his  head 
back  on  his  chair  —  a  fine  head,  both  artists  and  physiognomists 
had  called  it,  surveying  it,  however,  from  somewhat  different 
stand-points. 

It  was  just  at  twilight,  and  the  little  family  of  three  were 
gathered  in  the  study,  in  that  indolent,  social  mood  which  usu- 
ally follows  a  day  of  bustling  activities  of  one  sort  and  another, 
and  the  Rochfords  were,  every  one  of  them,  from  constitution, 
habit,  and  conscience,  full  of  varied  plans  and  industries,  which 
never  allowed  time  to  hang  heavy  on  their  hands. 

The  day  had  been  warm  —  for  it  was  late  in  the  May.  A 
golden  glow  of  twilight  filled  the  room.  All  through  it  were 
afloat  odors  of  hyacinths  and  roses,  with  the  luscious  sweetness 
of  orange  blossoms  from  a  little  conservatory,  which  opened 
like  a  green,  flowery  glade  out  from  one  side  of  the  study. 

"  Fletcher  looks  tired,  Sicily,"  said  Angeline,  as  she  noticed 
with  the  swiftness  of  intent  affection  the  posture  which  the  head 
took,  half  unconsciously. 

"  If  I  am,  there  is  no  rest  so  pleasant  and  entire  as  talking 
with  you,  girls.  Now,  what  do  you  want  to  know  about  the 
people  opposite,  Sicily?" 

"  Well,  whether  our  conjectures,  when  you  first  came  home, 
about  the  sort  of  people  they  were,  turned  out  to  be  true." 


80  DAEETLL   GAP,   OR 

"  You  know  the  circumstances  which  first  introduced  them 
to  me?" 

"  Yes  ;  Angeline  related  them  to  me  this  morning.  I  think 
your  meeting  with  the  young  lady  would  have  been  decidedly 
romantic  had  the  occasion  been  less  serious." 

"  It  was  serious  to  her  then  —  a  matter  of  life  and  death. 
Poor  girl !  there  were  no  disguises  there.  That  wild,  white, 
frightened  face,  under  its  shadow  of  dark  brown  hair,  contrasted 
awfully  with  the  rich  dress  and  the  quiver  of  the  jewels  on  her 
arms  and  neck.  I  never  saw  a  sharper  agony  in  any  face.  I 
can  never  get  it  out  of  hers,  although  I  have  seen  it  since  very 
luminous  with  smiles  and  happiness." 

"  She  is  your  favorite  of  the  family,  Angeline  says." 

Fletcher  Rochford  turned  and  smiled  on  the  elder  of  his  sis- 
ters. "  How  do  you  know  that  ?  "  he  said  —  "  did  I  tell  you  ?  " 

"  As  though  I  wasn't  acute  enough  to  find  that  out  without 
your  saying  so  !  " 

"  What  is  her  name?  "  asked  Sicily. 

Her  brother  smiled  again  —  this  time  with  a  twinkle  in  his 
eyes.  "  Jerusha !  "  he  said,  pronouncing  the  name  with  im- 
mense unction. 

Sicily  screwed  her  face  into  an  expression  indescribable,  unless 
her  own  solitary  comment  pronounced  it —  "  Distressing  !  " 

"  I  don't  think  it  is  to  the  owner  thereof,  Sicily ;  and  then 
they  call  her  '  Rusha,'  which  I  like  better  than  most  of  your 
new-fangled  pet  names." 

"  Rusha !  Rusha !  that  is  a  decided  improvement ;  it  has 
really  a  pretty  sound  about  it." 

"  But  really,  Sicily,  I  don't  dislike  Jerusha,"  interposed  An- 
geline. "  There  is  a  hearty,  honest  sound  to  the  name,  that 
somehow  I  fancy/' 

"It  is  a  matter  of  taste,"  replied  her  sister.  "  However,  if 
one  likes  the  owner  of  the  name,  it  makes  but  little  difference 
what  the  latter  is." 

"  Yes,"  said  her  brother  ;  and  he  said  no  more,  only  sat  still, 
musing. 

At  last  Sicily  reminded  him  — 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  gj 

"What  are  you  thinking  of,  Fletcher?" 

"  Of  this  girl,  Rusha  Darryll.  I  pitied  her  that  night  on 
which  I  first  saw  her,  and  I  pity  her  still,  although  any  one  who 
knew  —  perhaps  even  she  herself —  would  think  the  emotion 
wasted  in  her  case." 

"  In  what  respect  do  you  find  that  she  needs  it  then?  "  This 
was  Angeline's  question. 

"  Because  there  is  a  fine,  strong,  most  womanly  nature  in 
that  girl,  shut  up  and  feeding  on  itself.  One  sees  how  it  is. 
The  tone  of  her  home,  the  personal  atmospheres  of  those  around 
her,  have  all  had,  more  or  less,  a  coarse,  materializing  influ- 
ence. The  right  kind  of  moral  culture  and  stimulus  would  have 
made  of  that  girl  a  high-souled,  deep-hearted,  under  God,  truly 
Christian  woman.  The  fair,  delicate  face  —  it  is  that  sort  of 
delicacy  which,  without  physical  unsoundness,  indicates  an  ex- 
tremely sensitive  nervous  organization,  —  that  face,  even  in  its 
utmost  brightness  —  and  it  has  phases  of  such  —  is  haunted  to 
me  always  with  some  wistfulness  and  unrest.  I  can  understand 
what  it  all  means,  too.  There  is  an  inward,  half-conscious  pro- 
test going  on  all  the  while  against  the  sort  of  influences  among 
which  her  life  has  unfolded.  The  whole  spirit  of  the  family  is 
dense  —  gravitates  earthward.  And  yet,  as  I  said,  there  is  the 
making  of  a  noble  woman  in  that  girl,  only  there  is  a  great  deal 
against  her  at  present." 

"  You  must  have  studied  her  face  closely,  Fletcher,"  remarked 
Sicily,  archly. 

"  Otherwise  I  should  not  be  a  good  physician,"  answered  the 
doctor,  grave  as  any  judge,  though  he  caught  the  twinkle  of  a 
smile,  and  understood  perfectly  what  it  meant. 

"  Perhaps  she  will  grope  her  way  out  into  the  light,"  answered 
Angeline. 

"  Perhaps  —  that  is  the  best  one  can  say.  But  the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil  are  three  strong  forces,  and  in  certain 
directions  this  new  fortune  will  bring  them  to  bear  strongly  on 
her." 

" Is  there  nothing  to  be  said  of  the  rest  of  the  family?" 


82  DARETLL    GAP,   OR 

"  Of  the  father,  not  much.  He  is  simply  a  successful  specu- 
lator—  a  sharp,  bustling  man;  and  the  mother  is  kindly,  and 
fussy,  and  narrow ;  and  the  sons  are  of  the  Young  America 
type,  with  great  danger  of  making  shipwreck  on  the  new  for- 
tune ;  and  of  the  daughters,  one  is  pretty,  showy,  with  a  cer- 
tain outward  brilliancy,  that  has  little  depth,  but  tells  in  society  ; 
and  the  youngest  daughter  is  a  nice  little  school-girl  —  the 
mother's  pattern,  a  good  deal  improved." 

What  reply  the  young  ladies  would  have  made  to  this  rapid 
but  discriminating  analysis  of  the  Darryll  household,  never 
transpired,  for  at  that  moment  the  housemaid  presented  herself 
at  the  door,  saying —  "  There's  an  old  woman  and  a  young  sol- 
dier down  stairs,  doctor.  I  told  'em  it  was  out  of  your  hours  ; 
but  they  said  you'd  see  'em,  if  I'd  just  say  — '  Benjamin  Stowell 
and  his  mother.' " 

It  had  been  the  doctor's  hospital  day,  a  day  always  of  ex- 
hausting work,  both  of  mind  and  body.  A  look  of  weariness 
had  hovered  over  his  face,  even  in  the  restful  home  scenes  and 
talk ;  but  a  sudden  animation  displaced  all  other  expression, 
as  he  said  —  "  Show  them  up  here  at  once." 

"  Is  it  a  private  interview?  "  asked  Sicily,  for  the  name  was 
new  to  both  her  and  Angeline. 

"  No  ;  stay,  both  of  you,  in  that  corner.  It  will  be  worth  see- 
ing, and  it  will  not  embarrass  them  if  they  do  not  observe  you." 

As  he  spoke,  there  entered  the  room  a  small,  withered  old 
woman,  with  a  dark,  thin  face,  all  broken  up  now  with  some 
strong  rush  of  feeling.  She  wore  a  new  black  silk  dress  and 
tidy  shawl  and  bonnet.  By  her  side  was  a  sturdy,  broad-shoul- 
dered, sun-browned  youth,  in  army  blue. 

The  doctor  rose  and  held  out  his  hand,  with  his  best  smile  on 
his  face,  and  his  heartiest  welcome  in  his  tones.  "  I  am  glad  to 
see  you,  my  friends." 

The  little,  withered  old  woman  sprang  forward,  and  griped 
his  hand  in  both  of  hers  ;  her  face  quivered  all  over  betwixt 
smiles  and  sobs.  "  Benjamin's  going,  doctor,"  she  said,  choking 
over  the  words. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  83 

"  So  I  see  ;  and  you're  making  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
your  debtor,  by  giving  him  to  his  country  now,  my  dear  friend." 

The  words  did  the  poor  old  mother  good.  He  could  see,  as 
he  turned  to  shake  hands  with  Benjamin,  that  she  straightened 
herself  up,  the  big  tears  a-twinkle  on  her  cheeks,  and  the  pride 
and  tenderness  together  making  an  unutterable  pathos  in  her 
face  —  "  I  couldn't  let  him  go,  doctor,  without  first  coming  round 
here  to  say  good  by  to  you.  There  isn't  many  a  mother  '11  give 
a  finer-looking  boy  than  that  to  fight  for  his  country." 

The  young  man's  face  flushed  through  its  tan.  "  You  won't 
mind  what  the  old  woman  says,  doctor,  now  I'm  going  off?  "  — 
apologetically. 

"Ah,  Ben,  my  boy,  you'll  mind  it  one  of  these  days,  when 
you  get  down  there  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  and  every  word  of 
love  and  praise  will  come  back  then,  and  be  the  sweetest 
memory  your  heart  will  carry,"  answered  Dr.  Kochford. 

"  He's  your  gift  as  much  as  mine,  doctor,"  continued  the 
old  woman,  entirely  unobservant  in  her  agitation  of  the  two 
ladies  in  the  shadow,  who  sat  intently  watching  the  scene  —  "I 
shouldn't  have  had  my  Ben  to  give  to  his  country,  if  it  hadn't 
been  for  you  !  " 

"  I  shall  have  part  and  lot  in  one  soldier,  then.  After  your 
mother,  remember  me,  Ben." 

The  private  found  his  voice  now.  He  grasped  Dr.  Eoch- 
ford's  hand  — 

"  You  needn't  ask  that,  doctor.  As  if  I  could  ever  put  you 
anywhere  but  next  to  her,  when  I  remember  that  day  you 
found  me  in  the  street,  and  carried  me  to  the  hospital,  and 
nursed  me  through  all  that  long  sickness,  and  went  after  the 
poor  old  woman,  and  brought  her  down  your  own  self  to  sea 
her  boy  that  didn't  deserve  it  —  " 

"  Don't  say  that  now,  Benny,"  put  in  the  old  woman,  with 
the  tears  dripping  down  her  withered  cheeks.  "  He  was  a 
good  boy,  al'ays,  doctor,  and  he'll  go  down  to  the  fight  with 
his  poor  old  mother's  blessin'  on  his  head.  It  mayn't  be  much, 
but  it's  all  she's  got." 


84  DARETLL   GAP,   OR 

"  I  think  it  is  more  than  honors  or  diadems,"  said  the  doc- 
tor. "  May  the  old  mother's  blessing  and  prayer  '  cover  your 
head  in  the  day  of  battle,'  Benjamin  !  " 

"  Ah,  doctor,  you  know  jest  how  to  find  the  right  word  to 
take  the  sore  ache  out  of  a  body's  heart.  Mine  had  it  at  the 
thought  of  giving  up  my  only  boy,  until  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
go  with  him." 

"  Going  with  him!  Mrs.  Stowell?"  repeated  the  doctor,  in 
amazement. 

"  Yes,"  a  new  resolution  smoothing  out  the  lines  of  the  dark 
old  face.  "  Benny 's  all  I've  got ;  and  my  post  will  be  close  to 
him,  as  long  as  we  live.  Other  mothers  have  got  boys  down 
there  that  need  tender  nursing ;  and,  though  I'm  an  old  woman, 
I've  got  strength  left  yet  to  bind  up  wounds,  and  carry  cold 
water,  and  speak  comfortin'  words  ;  and  every  single  boy  down 
in  the  army  will  sort  of  seem  as  if  he  was  my  own,  now  Ben- 
ny 's  there,  and  taking  care  of  them  other  mothers'  boys  will  be 
kinder  doin'  it  for  him." 

"  That  hospital  work  down  there  —  I'm  afraid  it  will  be  too 
much  for  you,  Mrs.  Stowell,"  said  the  doctor,  doubtfully. 

"  It  won't  be  half  so  hard  as  to  stay  away  and  think  of  what 
might  be  happenin'  to  him ; "  she  reached  up  her  hand  and 
patted  the  thick,  dark  hair  in  a  way  that  must  have  drawn 
tears  from  colder  eyes  than  any  of  those  who  watched  her. 
And  the  doctor  saw  that  she  was  wiser  than  he. 

There  was  no  more  time  to  spare.  Benjamin's  regiment  was 
to  leave  the  next  day,  but  there  was  a  touch  of  feminine  vanity 
which  drew  smiles  through  the  tears  of  both  Angeline  and 
Sicily  Rochford,  as  the  old  woman  drew  aside  her  shawl  and 
pointed  to  her  black  silk  dress. 

"  You  see,  Benjamin  wanted  his  old  mother  to  look  sort  o' 
scrumptious,  when  he  introduced  her  to  the  officers.  He  got 
all  these  new  things  with  his  bounty  money,"  turning  her  back 
in  order  that  he  might  inspect  her  new  shawl,  and  the  neat 
black  bonnet,  for  each  of  which,  the  doctor,  equally  amused 
and  touched,  had  just  the  appropriate  word. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  85 

"  Good  by,  Benjamin.  Good  by,  Mrs.  Stowell,"  wringing 
the  hands  of  both,  and  kissing  the  old  woman's  cheek.  "  One 
of  these  days  I  may  find  you  down  there,  for  it  seems  to  me 
that  my  work  lies  in  the  same  direction  as  yours.  And,  Ben- 
jamin, remember  your  friend's  last  words.  Be  worthy  of  your 
God,  your  country,  and  your  old  mother." 

The  old  woman  straightened  her  bent  figure  as  she  took  her 
stalwart  son's  arm,  and  so  they  went  out  —  the  old  woman  and 
the  young  man  —  to  the  war  together. 

For  a  while  not  one  of  those  whom  they  left  behind  spoke  a 
word.  At  last  Sicily  drew  up  to  her  brother,  laid  her  hand  on 
his  shoulder,  and  said,  — 

"  Tell  us  what  that  meant,  Fletcher." 

He  did  not  seem  in  a  hurry  to  do  it  then,  and  Angeline 
added,  after  a  little, — 

"  We  are  waiting,  Fletcher." 

"  In  brief  then,  girls,  some  business  took  me  one  day  last 
autumn  down  among  the  piers  by  the  river.  And  near  one  of 
these  I  came  across  a  young  man  in  a  sailor's  garb,  lying  in  a 
pool  of  blood.  Either  my  pity  or  my  professional  instincts 
must  have  been  arrested,  for  I  leaned  down  and  removed  the 
tarpaulin  which  shaded  his  eyes.  The  face  turned  up  to  me 
was  totally  unconscious,  and  ghastly  enough  —  a  good,  honest 
face,  as  I  read  at  the  first  glance,  although  there  was  a  strong 
odor  of  liquor  about  it. 

"  I  saw  the  whole  thing  at  once.  A  young  sailor,  just 
landed,  had  been  decoyed  into  some  of  the  dens  that  infest  that 
part  of  the  city,  plied  with  strong  drink,  probably  been  robbed 
of  his  money,  and  thrust  out  in  the  end,  to  live  or  die,  as  might 
be.  Some  vehicle  had  evidently  gone  over  him,  for  on  exami- 
nation I  found  his  arm  broken,  his  collar-bone  fractured. 

"  To  make  the  story  short,  I  got  help,  and  took  the  youth  up 
to  the  hospital,  and  brought  him  back  to  life,  though  not  to  his 
wits  for  weeks  afterwards. 

"  The  injury  and  exposure  produced  inward  inflammation, 
and  when  we  got  the  better  of  that,  the  typhoid  set  in,  and  he 
8 


86  DAERTLL   GAP,    OE 

had  a  hard  pull  for  life.  I  learned  that  my  conjectures  were 
correct.  The  lad  was  the  only  son  of  his  mother,  and  she  was 
a  widow  down  in  Maine.  He  had  been  smitten  with  a  mania 
for  the  sea,  but  this  his  first  voyage  had  cured  him  of  it,  and 
he  was  returning  to  his  mother,  with  a  resolution  to  go  into 
farm  work,  as  his  father  had  before  him,  when  he  was  decoyed 
into  a  miserable  drinking  hole,  by  some  of  the  ship  hands,  and 
there  was  an  end  of  his  money,  and,  if  I  had  not  picked  him 
up,  of  his  life. 

"  The  way  that  boy  used  to  talk  of  his  mother  touched  me. 
I  knew  she  was  looking  for  him  night  and  day,  now  the 
vessel  had  got  in,  and  I  finally  made  up  my  mind,  after  get- 
ting her  address,  to  go  for  her,  as  the  son  hung  betwixt  life 
and  death,  the  chances  for  either  seeming,  to  human  vision, 
about  equal. 

"  You  see  it  was  one  of  those  cases  where  letters  wouldn't 
do ;  besides,  the  old  woman  had  never  been  fifty  miles  from 
home,  and  couldn't  easily  find  her  way  to  the  city  alone.  I 
managed  to  take  a  couple  of  nights  for  the  journey,  and  so 
didn't  lose  much  time,  brought  her  to  her  son,  and  for  the  end 
—  what  you  have  just  seen  relates  it.  My  care  has  been  re- 
warded a  thousand  fold." 

"  And  you  gave  up  two  nights  to  find  that  old  woman  and 
bring  her  to  her  son,  when  no  day  ever  allows  you  an  hour  for 
rest !  "  said  Sicily. 

"  People  have  done  greater  things  than  that,  without  praise 
or  reward,"  answered  Fletcher  Rochford. 

"  O,  knightly  heart  and  eloquent  tongue ! "  said  Angeline, 
fondly,  slipping  her  arm  around  her  brother's  neck. 

"  Now  stop,  girls,  stop  just  where  you  are,"  he  said,  posi- 
tively. "  If  there  is  anything  in  the  world  that  will  spoil  a 
fellow,  that  will  make  him  vain  and  self-conceited,  it's  talk  of 
that  sort !  The  truth  is,  as  Carlyle  says,  you  women  are  nat- 
ural worshippers,  and  it's  your  misfortune  that  your  divinities 
are  made  of  such  dreadfully  frail  stuff." 

The  girls  laughed  merrily,  and  patted  their  brother  on  the 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  87 

shoulder,  as  they  stood  on  each  side  of  him,  but  he  kept  on 
gravely  for  all  that. 

"  I  honestly  believe  that  the  females  of  my  own  household 
have  done  more  to  inflate  my  besetting  sins,  than  all  the  rest 
of  the  world  put  together  !  " 

"  Why,  Fletcher  ! "  was  the  duet  that  now  saluted  his  ears. 

"  It's  the  terrible  fact.  You  and  mother  were  always  laud- 
iug  me  for  things  that  deserved  no  praise,  and  if  I  hadn't 
guarded  against  these  influences,  I  should  have  turned  out  a 
veritable  coxcomb.  I  am  not  the  stuff  to  stand  such  talk.  I 
think  very  few  of  my  sex  are." 

"  I  have  never  perceived  any  injurious  effects,  but  as  you 
insist  on  them  so  positively,  Sicily  and  I  will  give  you  some 
doses  of  a  different  kind,"  laughed  Angeline. 

The  doctor  laughed  too,  pinching  her  cheek  at  this  ambig- 
uous threat ;  but  then  he  said,  — 

"  It  is  a  serious  matter,  girls,  and  I  believe  this  tendency  of 
worship  in  your  sex  is  one  of  the  underlying  causes  of  a  great 
deal  of  marital  unhappiness.  You  women  make  divinities  of 
your  husbands.  Your  worship  inflates  their  self-love,  their 
pride,  and  in  the  end  develops  them  into  tyrants. 

"  A  woman  when  she  marries  a  man  ought  not  to  merge  her 
individuality  wholly  in  his,  but  to  strive  with  all  the  power  of 
her  affection  to  brace  him  where  he  is  weak,  to  make  of  him,  in 
short,  a  stronger,  better,  nobler  man.  That  is  her  work  and  her 
duty,  not  to  swallow  all  that  he  says  and  does,  in  a  blind  adora- 
tion, which  in  the  end  is  wholesome  for  neither  of  them." 

"  I  think,"  said  Sicily,  her  bright  face  now  as  thoughtful  as 
her  brother's,  "  that  you  are  right  in  the  cases  of  many  hus- 
bands and  wives  ;  but  how  can  a  woman's  admiration  harm  one 
who,  like  yourself,  always  holds  her  so  far  above  men  ?  " 

"  It  will  take  too  long  to  go  into  the  philosophy  of  the  thing, 
my  dear.  The  fact  which  I  draw  from  my  own  experience  is 
enough.  However,  I  may  have  found  my  grain  of  leaven  in 
that ;  for  didn't  I  always  know,  in  the  midst  of  all  your  and 
our  mother's  praises  of  me,  how  far,  come  to  the  test,  in  char- 


88  DARRTLL    GAP,    OR 

ity,  in  self-sacrifice,  in  quiet  endurance,  after  the  manner  of 
your  sex,  you'd  outshine  any  of  my  poor  virtues?  I  always 
kept  that  thought  before  me.  Look  at  that  old  woman,  for  in- 
stance, going  down  there  to  the  hospitals,  to  give  the  remnant 
of  her  strength  and  her  days  to  nursing  the  soldiers.  There  is 
something  sublime  in  sacrifice  of  that  sort.  It  makes  me  hum- 
ble to  think  of  it." 

"  And  if  it  comes  home  to  you,  how  much  more  to  us?"  an- 
swered Angeline.  "  I  felt  reproved  and  ashamed  to  see  that 
withered  old  woman  go  out  of  the  door  so  strong  in  her  purpose 
of  work  and  help,  and  I  with  my  young  strength  staying  behind, 
living  from  day  to  day  my  life  of  luxurious  ease.  My  place  is 
down  there  in  the  hospitals,  too,  Fletcher,"  turning  her  face 
anxiously  to  his. 

"  Not  yet,  my  dear  girl.  There  may  be  a  time  when  I  must 
let  you  go,  if  the  war,  whose  end  no  man  now  can  foresee,  shall 
continue.  But  you  are  not  wasting  your  life  while  you  are 
helping  and  blessing  so  many  others  ;  and  there  is  a  chance  of 
your  breaking  down  in  the  hospitals  during  the  heats  of  the  sum- 
mer, and  the  need  there  is  hot  so  imperative  that  you  should 
run  that  risk." 

"  But  you  talked  of  going  to  the  old  woman,  Fletcher.  Surely, 
if  ever  a  man's  did,  your  work  seems  to  lie  at  home." 

"It  is  that  thought  only  which  has  kept  me  from  going  be- 
fore. But  I  am  not  certain  about  this.  When  one  hears  the 
stories  of  young,  inexperienced,  and  ignorant  surgeons,  and  the 
work  they  make  of  some  of  our  brave  fellows,  one's  blood  goes 
up  to  boiling.  I  might  save  a  few  limbs  from  rough  handling 
if  I  was  down  there." 

The  girls  shuddered.  The  doctor  saw  that  he  had  pursued 
this  topic  far  enough.  Before  he  started  another,  however, 
•  Sicily,  who  had  remained  silent  during  the  last  part  of  the  con- 
versation, came  around  to  his  chair,  and  leaning  over  it,  said,  — 

"  We  must  not  be  divided  in  our  work.  When  you  and 
Angeline  go,  I  shall  accompany  you." 

"  It  does  not  seem  ready  to  our  hand  yet,  so  far  as  we  can 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  89 

see,"  he  said.     "  When  it  is,  I  trust  that  none  of  us  will  shrink 
back."     So  the  matter  rested. 

As  they  went  out  to  tea,  for  Dr.  Rochford  never  sacrificed 
health  to  custom,  and  would  not  patronize  bed-time  dinners  even 
in  New  York,  he  said  to  his  sisters,  — 

"  I  suppose  it's  time  to  think  something  about  country  quar- 
ters. Have  you  any  plans  for  the  summer  ?  " 

"  Only  in  negations,"  answered  Angeline.  "  I'm  not  going 
to  any  fashionable  watering-places  this  season.  If  we  leave  the 
city  at  all,  let  us  find  some  place  where  we  can  have  freedom 
and  quiet  in  our  own  way.  Saratoga,  for  instance,  and  a  civil 
war  would  be  two  vast  inconsistencies." 

"  There  is  more  harmony  in  the  names  than  in  the  things 
just  now,"  said  her  brother.  "  I  know  of  a  fine  old  place  by 
the  sea-shore,  whose  hostess  is  an  aunt  of  a  classmate  of  mine, 
where  I  think  I  might  secure  you  snug  quarters.  Your  toilets 
there  will  not  be  the  supreme  object  of  life,  and  you'll  have 
delicious  air,  and  glimpses,  if  you  cultivate  them,  into  the  lives 
of  the  fishermen,  both  professional  and  domestic,  for  their  homes 
are  scattered  along  the  shore  ;  and  you'll  have,  back  among  the 
hills,  scenery  of  the  wildest  and  most  picturesque,  and  society, 
when  you  want  it,  of  the  best." 

"  O,  Fletcher,  that  is  the  very  place  —  let  us  go  there  ! " 
cried  both  the  girls  ;  and  Sicily  added,  "  You  will  run  up  occa- 
sionally, and  give  us  a  sail,  and  help  us  gather  seaweed  ?  " 

"  You  may  depend  on  me  whenever  I  can  wrest  out  a  day 
from  my  work." 

And  then  the  girls  —  they  were  young  girls  still,  and  of  that 
sort  whose  youth  is  so  deep  that  its  springs  will  never  fail 
utterly  —  went  to  weaving  all  sorts  of  pretty  little  projects  for 
the  summer.  What  bright  little  jests  flashed  and  twinkled 
through  the  merry  talk  !  What  peals  of  laughter,  what  sparkles 
of  repartee,  in  which  each  tried  to  get  ahead  of  the  other, 
and  in  which  Fletcher  usually  formed  the  target  for  his  sisters' 
jokes ;  although  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  man  was  fully 
capable  of  defending  himself. 
8* 


90 

This  supper,  at  the  close  of  the  twilight  was  the  happiest  hour 
of  the  day.  Here  each  showed  its  brightest  self  to  the  other, 
and  whatever  perplexed  or  disturbed  was  by  mutual  consent 
banished  from  the  table. 

Fletcher  Rochford's  profession  necessarily  entailed  a  great 
deal  of  care  and  labor  on  one  who  put  into  it  so  much  of  heart  and 
soul  as  he  did,  and  his  patients  included  all  classes,  although 
his  beneficiaries  formed  the  largest  of  these,  and  the  man  used 
to  feel,  far  oftener  than  he  told  his  sisters,  that  if  it  were  not  for 
this  home  warmth,  and  rest,  and  brightness,  he  could  hardly 
bear  up  under  the  varied  pressure  and  the  multiform  duties  of 
each  day.  With  him,  however,  and  with  his  sisters,  in  a  large 
sense,  the  mirthfulness  had  a  background  of  earnestness  and 
gravity ;  perhaps  the  outward  sparkle  was  all  the  brighter  for 
the  time  on  that  very  account. 

And  when  at  last  the  supper  was  over,  and  they  had  all 
adjourned  to  the  small  study  again,  he  caught  a  gleam  of  moon- 
light on  the  carpet,  and  walked  to  the  window.  Standing  there 
a  moment,  watching  the  stars  in  the  May  sky,  Dr.  Rochford 
saw  a  face  at  the  opposite  window  —  a  finely  outlined  face,  that, 
having  seen  once,  held  his  memory  always.  It  was  looking 
up  at  the  stars  too.  Perhaps  it  was  the  man's  fancy,  but  it 
seemed  to  him  that,  even  at  that  distance,  he  could  detect  some- 
thing wistful  in  the  gaze.  Below  there  were  brilliant  lights,  and 
people  moving  to  and  fro. 

"What  did  that  solitary  watcher  see  there?"  he  wondered. 
"  Had  the  stars  yonder,  and  the  moon,  walking  amid  them  in 
her  white  glory,  any  eloquent  language  of  their  Maker's  power 
and  strength  —  above  all,  and  O,  how  much  better  than  all,  of 
His  eternal  love?  Did  the  thought  of  the  young  girl,  watching 
there,  go  up  beyond  all  these,  his  visible  signs  set  in  the  sky,  to 
her  Father's  heart  and  home,  towards  which,  or  away  from 
which,  this  softly-flowing  night  was  carrying  her,  as  it  was  all 
the  world?" 

All  these  questions,  and  some  more,  wandered  through  his 
mind  as  he  stood  there  looking  at  the  house  opposite  and  the 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  91 

face  at  the  front  chamber  window.  At  last  it  went  away ;  so 
did  he,  drawing  the  curtain. 

"  Sing  something,  girls,"  he  said,  resuming  his  easy  chair. 

"What  shall  it  be,  sacred  or  sentimental?"  asked  Angeline, 
turning  over  the  music  sheets. 

"  Sing  one  of  our  mother's  favorites  —  that  dear  old  — 

" '  The  spacious  firmament  on  high.'  " 

Angeline's  hands  swept  the  keys,  her  voice  took  up  the  sweet 
old  melody,  haunted  with  tender  associations  to  them,  as  wild 
flowers  with  sweet  odors.  Sicily  joined  her  in  a  moment,  and 
afterwards  her  brother's  voice  crept  in,  and  the  grand  old  words 
rolled  down  on  a  great  wave  of  melody  to  the  close. 


92  DAEBTLL   GAP,   OB 


CHAPTER    X. 

THAT  John  Darryll's  fortune  was  likely  to  prove  a  bait  to  a 
certain  class  of  suitors  for  his  daughters,  was  a  fact  to  which 
the  shrewd  speculator  was  sufficiently  alive.  Had  he  not  been 
the  possessor  of  a  dollar  in  the  world,  each  one  of  his  girls  had 
personal  attractions  sufficient  to  afford  a  reasonable  prospect  of 
eligible  husbands,  and,  in  some  sense,  their  chances  for  future 
happiness  might  have  been  greater.  It  was  certain  that  Mr. 
Darryll's  acquaintance  with  men  had  not  impressed  him  with 
a  high  sense  of  their  disinterestedness,  either  in  their  social  or 
business  relations.  Since  the  sudden  acquisition  of  his  riches, 
his  opinion  of  the  motives  which  dominated  his  fellow-beings 
seemed  to  have  undergone  an  immense  change  for  the  worse, 
and  he  regarded  it  as  a  religious  duty  to  impress  his  own  con- 
victions upon  his  family,  especially  upon  his  daughters,  who 
needed,  in  his  opinion,  some  safeguard  against  fortune-hunters. 

You  would  have  thought,  to  hear  this  man  talk,  that  there  was 
no  such  thing  as  real  integrity,  disinterestedness,  magnanimity,  to 
be  found  in  the  world  —  that  all  men  in  their  business  transac- 
tions, and  in  their  daily  living,  followed  selfishness,  in  its  varied 
forms,  as  the  governing  law  of  their  lives. 

He  did  not  wholly  deny  kindly  impulses  to  his  race  ;  he  even 
admitted  the  existence  of  occasional  benevolent  feelings  in  man- 
kind ;  but  come  to  the  real  impelling  motives  of  every  man's 
conduct,  "  get  down,"  as  he  expressed  it,  "  to  the  bottom  of  his 
life  and  acts,  and  you'd  find  one  principle  there,  and  that  was 
self,  whether  the  possessor  was  aware  of  it  or  not." 

Rusha  and  her  father  often  had  warm  verbal  battles  on  tnis 
very  topic,  for  she  always  stood  on  the  defensive,  for  human 
nature  at  large,  and  maintained  her  side  with  a  great  deal  of 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  93 

zeal,  inclining,  indeed,  rather  too  far  to  the  romantic  and  Utopian. 
Rusha  and  her  father  were  always  diverging  in  opinion,  and  yet 
his  eldest  daughter  was  rather  the  favorite  with  John  Darryll. 

This  fact,  indeed,  was  so  far  acted  upon  in  the  family  that,  if 
anything  particularly  disagreeable  was  to  be  revealed  to  him,  if 
any  domestic  diplomacy  was  necessary  to  overcome  his  preju- 
dices, or  obtain  his  consent  to  some  plan  which  would  not  be 
likely  on  first  presentation  to  meet  his  approval,  especially,  if  an 
unusual  demand  on  his  purse  was  required,  Rusha  was  always 
deputed  to  accomplish  the  matter. 

However  her  father  might  sneer  about  her  "  foolish,  romantic, 
highfalutin  notions,"  she  had  a  way  of  putting  home-facts  and 
wants  to  him,  which  succeeded  better  than  even  that  of  her 
'practical  mother  or  less  visionary  sister. 

Indeed  he  set  a  much  higher  value  on  his  eldest  daughter's 
abilities  and  information  than  he  did  on  all  Ella's  showy  accom- 
plishments and  brilliant  superficialities.  In  all  those  things  the 
latter  excelled.  She  had  a  fine  ear  for  music,  and  could  sing 
and  play  better  than  most  fashionable  young  ladies,  so  that  her 
talents  were  always  in  requisition  in  a  drawing-room.  She 
could  play  euchre  skilfully,  she  could  dance  charmingly,  in  all 
these  social  accomplishments  fairly  outshining  her  elder  sister, 
who,  in  a  certain  way,  was  proud  of  and  enjoyed  Ella's  gifts. 

But  Eusha  was  sure  to  be  a  favorite  with  everybody  who 
knew  her  well.  The  fine,  earnest  face,  the  rare  conversa- 
tional gifts,  the  swift  enthusiasm,  always  attracted  the  best 
men  and  women  of  the  fashionable  society  whose  doors  John 
Darryll's  wealth  had  swung  open  to  his  family,  a  society  largely 
made  up  of  what  Carlyle  calls  the  "  Money-Bag  Aristocracy," 
and  whose  gods  were  Wealth,  Display,  Position,  and  who  wor- 
shipped this  trinity  of  Divinities  quite  as  devoutly  as  the  ancient 
Romans  did  their  whole  Pantheon. 

One  morning,  after  a  breakfast,  during  the  progress  of  which 
her  father  had  been  particularly  severe  in  his  strictures  on  hu- 
man nature,  and  Rusha  had  stood  on  the  defence  with  a  little 
more  than  her  ordinary  vehemence,  she  came  up  stairs  to  the 


94  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

front  chamber,  which  was  a  kind  of  general  sitting-room,  and 
stood  by  the  mantel  idly  drumming  her  fingers  on  the  marble, 
lost  in  some  thought  that  made  a  dreary  shadow  on  her  face. 

Ella  was  practising  some  new  music  at  the  piano,  and  for  the 
space  of  half  an  hour  no  word  was  spoken  betwixt  the  sisters. 
At  last  Ella  laid  aside  her  music,  and  rose  up,  turning  towards 
her  sister,  — 

"  You  know  we  are  to  go  out  this  morning,  Rusha.  It's  high 
time  to  dress." 

"  I  suppose  it  is  ; "  but  there  was  no  interest  in  her  voice,  and 
the  shadow  on  her  face  had  not  cleared  itself. 

Ella  turned  and  saw  it. 

"  What  put  you  out  of  sorts  this  morning,  Rusha?"  she  asked, 
as  though  the  fact  was  not  an  isolated  one. 

For  a  moment  the  elder  sister  did  not  answer.  When  she 
did,  her  remark  hardly  seemed  to  reply  to  Ella's  question. 

"  If  I  thought  what  papa  said  this  morning  was  true,  that  all 
men  were  at  the  core  mean,  weak,  selfish,  that  human  nature 
was  without  exception  the  miserable  stuff  he  makes  it,  I  verily 
believe  I  shouldn't  want  to  live  another  day." 

"  O,  that's  the  trouble,  is  it?  I  might  have  known  one  of 
your  theories  lay  at  the  bottom  of  that  dismal  face.  I  thought 
you  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity,  Rusha ; "  her 
smile  just  touched  with  a  little  not  unkindly  irony. 

"  In  a  se-nse  I  do  ;  but  not  in  the  one  pa  does.  You  know  how 
he  reasons  —  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  real  generosity,  disin- 
terestedness, integrity  in  the  world ;  that  all  men,  no  matter 
what  their  professions  may  be,  whether  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, are  alike  governed  by  selfishness,  and  that  this  is  the 
root-motive  of  all  their  actions.  It  always  excites  me  to  hear 
any  man  take  such  ground,  and  when  that  man  is  my  father,  it 
makes  it  a  thousand  times  worse." 

"  But  why  do  you  trouble  yourself  about  it,  one  way  or  the 
other,  Rusha?"  asked  Ella.  "Do  let  pa  hold  his  opinions,  so 
long  as  it  makes  no  sort  of  practical  difference  with  any  of  us. 
These  controversies  always  excite  and  make  you  unhappy.  It's 
so  much  better  to  let  them  alone." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  95 

The  mild,  reasonable,  hali'-expostulatory  tone  was  of  just 
that  sort  which  would  be  likely  to  weigh  most  with  the  elder 
sister.  She  turned  and  looked  at  Ella  with  some  regretful,  half 
perplexed  look,  on  her  fair  young  face. 

"  But  my  opinions  are  a  part  of  my  life,  Ella.  I  can't  hold 
them  loosely,  indifferently,  uor  have  those  whom  I  love  best 
differ  from  me  on  points  that  are  with  me  matters  of  life  or 
death.  I  wasn't  made  so." 

"  Well,  I'm  thankful  I  was  !  "  answered  Ella,  and  there  was 
something  almost  sympathetic  in  the  way  she  looked  at  her 
sister.  "  It  makes  one  so  dreadfully  uncomfortable  to  feel  as 
you  do.  So  long  as  people's  notions  don't  come  in  contact  with 
me,  they  may  hold  them,  be  they  ever  so  absurd,  for  all  I  care. 
My  philosophy  is  to  take  the  world  easy  as  I  go  along,  and  get 
all  the  pleasure  out  of  it  I  can." 

There  were  times  when  talk  of  this  sort  had  its  influence  over 
Rusha  Darryll.  How  could  it  be  otherwise !  Its  sentiment 
pervaded  in  some  sense  the  moral  atmosphere  of  her  home ; 
and  although  in  another  and  higher  phase  of  feeling  she  would 
have  seen  the  essential  narrowness  and  selfishness  of  Ella's  rea- 
soning,—  if  indeed  it  could  be  called  such,  —  it  had  force  with 
her  now.  She  was  saddened  and  depressed  with  that  talk  with 
her  father.  There  were  moments  when  her  highest  convictions 
were  swayed  by  the  influences  about  her.  This  was  one  of 
them  ;  and  the  troubled  look  held  her  face  still,  as  she  said,  — 

"  Well,  Ella,  I  think  you're  right  as  to  the  comfortableness 
of  the  thing,  at  least.  I  sometimes  wish  I  was  like  you." 

"  Well,  it's  easy  enough  to  be,"  considerably  flattered  by  this 
concession  from  a  sister  for  whose  real  intelligence  and  abilities, 
Ella,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  her  family,  entertained  a  high 
regard.  u  What  do  you  care  whether  mankind  in  the  abstract 
are  selfish,  and  all  that  talk  of  pa's,  or  not?  One  can  have,  for 
all  I  see,  just  as  good  a  time  in  the  world." 

"  But  don't  you  see  that  belief  in  the  reality  of  goodness 
somewhere,  is  one  of  the  great  sheet-anchoi-s  of  hope  and  faith? 
If  all  men  are  sordid  and  mean,  or,  at  least,  self-seeking  at  the 


96 

bottom,  I  don't  see  what  is  the  use  of  any  God,  or  any  religion, 
or  indeed,  that  there  is  any.  The  whole  thing  is  a  cheat  and 
a  lie." 

"  O,  Rusha,  you  always  use  such  strong  terms  !  " 

"  Any  weaker  would  not  contain  the  truth.  What  I  said  was 
the  only  and  legitimate  deduction  from  pa's  premises  ;  and,  Ella," 
her  earnestness  now  chasing  away  the  perplexity  or  half  de- 
spondent apathy  from  voice  and  face,  "  one's  opinions,  beliefs, 
are  the  real  touchstone  of  character.  As  a  man  thinks  in  his 
soul,  so  is  he." 

"  Well,  '  each  man  '  will  probably  go  on  thinking  and  believ- 
ing, for  all  you  and  I  can  do  to  prevent  it,"  said  Ella,  with  a 
good-humored  laugh.  "  Fret  not  thyself  over  itr  O,  Rusha  !  " 

Rusha  smiled,  but  in  this  case  you  saw  that  the  mirth  did  not 
go  very  deep. 

"Your  philosophy  is,  as  I  said,  a  very  comfortable  one, 
Ella." 

"  It  has  two  merits,  at  least.  It  vexes  nobody  else,  and  lets 
one  have  a  good  time  in  the  world." 

"  But  after  all,  Ella,  such  a  philosophy  never  accomplished 
any  good  in  the  earth  —  never  overcame  a  wrong,  never  righted 
an  abuse  under  which  humanity  has  groaned.  It  is  a  sort  of 
philosophy  which  no  high  and  noble  souls  of  men  or  women 
would  approve." 

"  Well,  they  needn't.  So  long  as  it  satisfies  me,  that's  enough. 
But  come,  Rusha,  the  carriage  will  be  here  before  either  of  us 
are  dressed ;  and  these  unprofitable  arguments  only  consume 
one's  time  ;  "  and  she  darted  off,  humming  some  lively  notes  of 
a  song  she  was  learning. 

Ella  Darryll's  philosophy  was,  as  she  said,  a  very  comfortable 
one,  but  it  was  of  just  that  sort  which  has  wrought  mischief 
and  misery,  wrong  and  woe,  through  all  the  ages  aud  genera- 
tions of  time. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  97 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THAT  morning  down  town  was  a  very  busy  one,  for  the  next 
week  the  house  was  to  be  closed  up  for  the  season,  the  family 
exodus  to  Newport  being  arranged,  not  at  all  after  the  conven- 
ience of  the  household,  but  at  precisely  the  time  ordained  by 
inexorable  Fashion  ;  so  there  was  a  great  pressure  of  final  shop- 
ing  commissions,  and  all  sorts  of  small  business  to  be  transacted. 

Mrs.  Darryll,  with  her  own  hands  full,  found  it  impossible  to 
wait  on  her  daughters'  thousand  and  one  little  personal  errands, 
and  it  was  at  last  settled  that  the  family  should  disintegrate,  the 
mother  and  Agnes  riding  some  distance  farther  up  town  to  com- 
plete their  list  of  purchases,  while  the  elder  girls,  after  finishing 
theirs,  should  join  the  carriage,  this  decision  involving  a  walk 
up  Broadway  of  something  less  than  half  a  mile,  at  which  Ella 
demurred  at  first,  she  having,  of  late,  become  too  fine  a  lady  for 
any  pedestrian  efforts  ;  but  Mrs.  Darryll's  limited  time  made  her 
positive,  and  Ella  was  obliged  to  submit. 

At  last  the  multiform  errands  had  been  despatched,  and  the 
young  ladies  were  hurrying  down  Broadway  to  rejoin  their 
mother,  when  suddenly  there  came  out  from  a  dry  goods  store, 
a  little  ahead  of  them,  a  large,  florid-faced,  somewhat  round- 
shouldered,  elderly  man,  with  a  little,  plainly-dressed,  faded 
woman  leaning  on  his-  arm,  and  behind  them  were  two  plump, 
rosy-faced  country  girls. 

A  single  glance  could  take  this  people  in,  and  fix  their  status, 
domestic  and  social.  The  man  was  a  farmer ;  those  brown 
hands  of  his  had  helped  plough  his  own  fields,  and  dig  his  own 
potatoes ;  that  small,  faded,  kindly-faced  woman  on  his  arm 
was  his  wife,  who  would  probably  be  much  more  at  home  in 
her  dairy  than  in  a  drawing-room  ;  and  those  buxom  girls  were 
9 


98  DAREYLL    OAF,    OR 

their  daughters,  whose  faces  certainly  did  not  lack  intelligence, 
if  their  manners  did  high  social  cultivation. 

As  Rusha' s  glance  fell  upon  these  people,  she  gave  a  little 
start  and  pause,  another  swift  glance  dived  into  each  face,  then 
she  said,  in  a  rapid,  astonished  tone,  — 

"  Why,  Ella,  as  true  as  I  live,  there  are  our  old  friends,  the 
Bacons ! " 

It  was  Ella's  turn  now  to  start.  She  threw  a  solitary  glance 
in  the  direction  her  sister  indicated,  a  glance  which  took  in  the 
faces,  figures,  dresses  of  the  whole  four,  — 

"  So  it  is,  Rusha,"  in  a  low  but  excited  tone.  "  Do  make 
haste.  I  should  die  if  they  should  recognize  us." 

There  was  little  cause  for  apprehension  on  that  score.  The 
two  elegantly  dressed  young  ladies  who  swept  past  the  country 
people,  resembled  in  style  and  carriage  so  little  the  half-grown 
girls  the  Bacons  remembered,  that  they  could  not  be  readily 
identified.  Rusha  quickened  her  pace  mechanically,  to  equal 
her  sister's.  But  it  flagged  in  a  moment. 

"  Hadn't  we  better  go  and  speak  to  them,  Ella?  It  seems 
mean  to  pass  such  good  old  friends  in  this  way." 

"  Rusha,  would  you  be  seen  on  Broadway  walking  with  those 
coarse,  dowdy-looking  people  !  At  this  hour,  too,  when  every- 
body is  out !  The  very  thought  makes  me  shiver  ! " 

You  must  remember  that  Rusha  had  her  social  ambitions  as 
well  as  her  sister ;  that  she  had  a  large  share  of  approbative- 
ness  which  made  her  sensitive  to  the  opinions  of  others ;  that, 
notwithstanding  her  loftier  impulses,  she  was  by  no  means  above 
being  influenced  by  appeals  to  her  lower  feelings  of  pride  and 
vanity,  and  that  she  was  at  times  desirous  of  ignoring  family 
antecedents  which  an  interview  with  these  people  would  reces- 
sarily  revive.  So  she  kept  on  with  her  sister  with  some  reluc- 
tance or  irresolution  in  her  face. 

There  was  no  question  but  all  Ella  said  was  true.  The 
mutual  recognition  might  involve  a  good  many  things,  that,  in 
their  changed  circumstances,  would  be  awkward  and  disagree- 
able. Then  the  Bacons  had  not  identified  them,  so  no  harm 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  99 

could  be  done,  and  nobody's  feelings  hurt,  by  saying  nothing 
and  avoiding  them.  But  then  there  flashed  up  before  Rusha 
Darryll  the  old  pictures  of  her  childhood,  the  yellow,  gambrel- 
roofed  house  at  Mystic,  that  stood  next  to  their  own,  and  the 
smiling-faced  little  woman  who  used  to  come  to  the  side  window 
and  reach  down  to  her  the  small  cake,  warm  from  the  little  scal- 
loped tin  in  which  it  had  been  baked  for  her. 

She  could  remember  just  the  flavor  of  that  cake  —  none  had 
ever  been  so  sweet  since ;  and  she  could  fancy  herself  stand- 
ing there  by  the  side  window  again,  her  head  just  below  the 
sill,  and  Mrs.  Bacon's  kind,  motherly  face  smiling  down  on 
her,  as  she  reached  up  her  childish  hands  for  the  little  brown 
scallop,  and  Rusha  could  see  her  own,  little  awkward  fingers 
probing  for  the  dried  currants  and  caraway  seed,  that  were  cer- 
tain to  be  deeply  embedded  inside.  A  simple  picture  enough, 
but  somehow  it  brought  the  tears  into  Rusha's  eyes. 

And  her  old  playmates,  Lucy  and  Esther  Bacon,  the  freckle- 
faced,  frolicsome  little  girls  with  whom  she  used  to  go  straw- 
berrying  down  there  in  the  fields  that  lay  back  of  Mystic  Pond. 
What  a  difference  there  was  betwixt  the  fortunes  of  the  old 
playmates  now  !  Yet  she  knew  by  the  bright,  open  faces,  that 
the  kindly  hearts  beat  beneath  them  still,  "  a  good  deal  better 
and  truer  than  hers,  though  they  did  churn  butter,  and  feed 
chickens,  and  milk  cows." 

And  then  there  came  a  later  time  to  the  memory  of  Rusha 
Darryll,  when  a  darkness  that  was  like  the  shadow  of  death 
gathered  over  the  little  home  at  Mystic.  Every  child  of  the 
household  had  been  attacked  by  virulent  scarlet  fever.  Guy 
was  an  infant  then,  only  a  few  weeks  old,  and  his  mother  was 
feeble,  and  it  was  impossible  to  procure  nurses,  as  the  epidemic 
raged  through  all  the  country  side.  Then  little  Mrs.  Bacon 
came  forward  and  proved  the  stuff  she  was  made  of.  Her  own 
children,  happily,  escaped  the  infection,  and  she  devoted  her- 
self day  and  night  to  her  neighbors. 

Rusha  remembered  how  she  had  lain  in  that  small  crib 
wrestling  with  the  awful  fever  and  fiery  thirst,  when  suddenly 


100  DABBYLL   GAP,   OB 

a  pair  of  strong,  tender  arms  would  lift  her  up,  and  she  would 
nestle  her  poor  little  tired  head  down  softly  on  Mrs.  Bacon's 
shoulder,  and  be  rocked  to  sleep  there  just  as  though  it  was  her 
mother's. 

The  doctor  said  afterwards  that  "  first-rate  nursing  did 
more  than  all  his  remedies  to  bring  the  little  Darrylls  safely 
through." 

All  this  flashed  across  Rusha's  thought  in  much  less  time 
than  it  must  have  taken  you*  to  read  it.  Then  the  girl's  better 
nature  rose  up  and  scornfully  rebuked  her. 

"  Rusha  Darryll,"  it  said,  "  you  know  in  your  own  soul  that 
it  will  be  ineffably  mean  and  contemptible  in  you  to  ignore, 
simply  because  your  father  has  made  a  fortune,  those  old 
friends  of  yours,  who  have  proved  themselves  so  faithful  in 
your  need.  Don't  talk  about  other  people's  weaknesses  and 
snobbishness.  You'll  carry  the  consciousness  down  deep  in 
your  soul  from  this  hour  that  you  are  weaker  and  meaner  than 
anybody  you  despise.  Sell  your  self-respect,  will  you,  for  fear 
that  somebody  may  see  you  walking  with  honest,  plainly- 
dressed  people?  That  will  be  a  pleasant  remembrance  to  sting 
you  all  your  life,  won't  it  ?  " 

Of  a  sudden,  Rusha  Darryll  stood  still.  "  I  am  going  back 
to  speak  to  the  Bacons,  Ella." 

"Rusha  Darryll,  are  you  crazy,  or  a  fool?" 

"  A  little  of  both,  perhaps ;  but  I'm  going.  Tell  ma  I'll 
join  her  in  a  few  minutes  ;  "  and  she  hurried  off. 

Ella  sent  after  her  an  appealing  —  "  Rusha,  do  come  back  — 
do  be  reasonable  !  "  but  she  kept  on. 

"  Mrs.  Bacon,  don't  you  know  me?" 

The  farmer's  wife  looked  up  in  startled  amazement  as  the 
elegantly-dressed  lady  approached  her  with  these  words ;  but 
there  was  something  in  the  eyes  and  the  smile  that  seemed 
familiar. 

"  I  can't  recollect,  but  I'm  sure  I've  seen  your  face  before." 

The  four  people  stood  still  now  watching  her  face  with 
curious  eagerness. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  101 

"  If  you  have  forgotten  me,  you  haven't  the  name  of  Rusha 
Darryll." 

"  Eusha  Darryll !  "  four  voices,  in  an  agitation  of  joyful  sur- 
prise, shouted  out  the  name.  And  right  there  in  Broadway, 
each  one  —  old  father  and  all — took  turns  in  giving  her  a  real 
old-fashioned  country  hug. 

"  It  don't  seem  possible  you're  the  little  girl  I've  held  on  my 
knee  and  told  stories  to,"  said  Mrs.  Bacon,  looking  at  the  girl 
with  genuine  tears  springing  in  her  eyes.  "  Ah,  Rusha,  what  a 
fine  lady  you've  grown  to  be  !  " 

"  We've  heard  all  about  the  grand  fortune  your  father's  made 
down  there  at  Darryll  Gap,  Rusha,"  here  interposed  Farmer 
Bacon,  with  his  hand  on  the  girl's  shoulder,  and  a  glow  of 
pleasure  all  over  his  florid  face. 

"  I  wonder  if  it  took  you  as  much  by  surprise  as  it  did  us?" 
she  answered,  not  knowing  exactly  what  to  say. 

"  I  said  to  the  girls  when  I  heard  it,  '  The  money  won't 
spoil  Rusha,  I'm  sure  of  that,' "  added  Mrs.  Bacon. 

Rusha  was  by  no  means  certain  that  she  deserved  the  faith 
of  her  old  friend,  but  she  was  none  the  less  grateful  for  it ;  and 
then  she  had  a  gantlet  of  questions  to  run,  and  not  a  few  to 
ask  herself,  as  the  sight  of  the  familiar  faces  revived  a  crowd 
of  smouldering  memories.  But  an  interview  on  Broadway 
could  not  last  forever. 

"You'll  come  up  and  take  dinner  with  us  this  evening?" 
she  said,  when  she  found  that  her  friends'  stay  in  town  was  a 
very  brief  one,  compelling  the  occupation  of  almost  every  mo- 
ment. "  We  shall  all  be  so  happy  to  have  you." 

Rusha  Darryll  caught  her  breath  with  the  last  word,  thinking 
of  Ella.  She  was  conscientious  enough  to  have  put  the  gen- 
eral cordiality  in  a  little  different  form  had  she  given  it  a  second 
thought. 

But  suspecting  nothing  of  this,  and  a  desire  to  meet  their  old 

neighbors    combining  with  a  very  natural   curiosity  to  see  a 

style  of  living  altogether  beyond  any  experience  of  their  own, 

the  Bacons  held  a  conference  among  themselves,  revised  some 

9* 


102  DABRYLL   GAP,   OB 

of  their  plans,  and  ended  by  accepting  Rusha's  invitation  to 
dinner,  the  utmost  hospitality  which  their  margin  of  time  al- 
lowed them  to  receive. 

When  Rusha  reached  the  appointed  place,  she  found  the  car- 
riage had  disappeared.  Perfectly  certain  that  Ella  was  at  the 
bottom  of  this,  she  took  an  omnibus  up  town,  in  no  very  ami- 
cable attitude  of  mind  towards  her  sister.  She  reached  home, 
and  burst  into  the  sitting-room,  where  she  found  her  mother 
and  Agnes,  with  their  hats  not  yet  removed.  Her  father  was 
there  too,  having  returned  home  by  the  middle  of  the  afternoon. 

"  Well,  I  must  say  I  think  you  treated  me  very  handsomely 
to  ride  off  and  leave  me  to  find  my  way  home  as  I  could  !  " 

"  Well,"  returned  her  mother,  evidently  mystified  with  the 
whole  thing,  "  Ella  said  you  wouldn't  be  along  for  some  time, 
and  that  we  were  to  drive  on  without  you.  I  couldn't  make 
head  or  tail  to  the  matter,  for  Mr.  Howe  was  along,  and  I  saw 
by  her  look  it  was  no  time  to  ask  questions." 

"That  young  Derrick  Howe?"  inquired  Mr.  Darryll,  who 
had  opened  his  paper,  but  was  evidently  listening  to  the  women's 
talk. 

"  Yes,  father ;  he  rode  home  with  us,  and  is  in  the  parlor 
now." 

"Might  be  in  better  business,"  growled  the  head  of  the 
family. 

"  O,  I  see  and  understand  it  all  now  !  "  exclaimed  Rusha,  a 
good  deal  mollified  towards  her  sister.  "  She  must  have  met 
him  after  we  saw  the  Bacons." 

"  The  Bacons  ! " 

"Why,  yes,  ma,  didn't  you  know?  —  I  came  upon  them  all 
of  a  sudden  in  the  street  —  father,  mother,  Lucy,  and  Esther  I  " 

"  Well,  now,  I  am  beat !  "  was  Mrs.  Darryll's  rejoinder,  as 
she  resumed  the  chair  from  which  she  had  risen. 

Rusha  was  rapidly  sketching  the  interview  to  her  deeply  in- 
terested audience  when  Ella  came  in. 

"  Well,  Rusha,  did  you  bring  the  whole  family  home  with 
you  ?  "  a  little  sarcasm  in  her  tones. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  103 

"No,  but  I  made  them  promise  to  dine  with  us  to-day. 
Your  alarm  was  altogether  unnecessary." 

"  Well,  I  expected  they'd  come  along  in  force,  and  just  after 
we  parted  I  met  Mr.  Howe,  and  I  should  certainly  have  wanted 
the  earth  to  open  and  swallow  me  up  if  he  had  come  on  us  in 
the  midst  of  that  gawky  country  set.  There  wasn't  the  slight- 
est need  of  your  recognizing  them." 

The  little  altercation  which  ensued  brought  out  the  whole 
transaction. 

"  It  would  have  been  so  contemptible  to  slight  those  kind  old 
friends  of  ours,  who  have  proved  themselves  such  through  so 
many  troubles,  that  I  should  have  felt  mean  all  the  rest  of  my 
life.  I  won't  make  a  fool  or  a  coward  of  myself  because  my 
father's  made  a  fortune,"  was  the  sum  of  Rusha's  defence. 

"  It  would  have  been  so  mortifying  to  have  had  Mr.  Howe, 
or  any  of  our  set,  come  upon  us  in  company  with  that  sort  of 
people,"  was  the  pith  of  Ella's. 

The  latter  found,  on  the  whole,  the  sentiment  of  the  family 
decidedly  against  her.  John  Darryll  set  quite  as  much  value 
on  his  fortune  as  his  daughter  did,  and  was  by  no  means  in- 
different to  the  increased  social  and  business  weight  which  it 
afforded  him  ;  but  he  had  very  little  sympathy  for  Ella's  abso- 
lute deference  to  the  opinions  of  her  set. 

Mrs.  Darryll,  never  quite  certain  of  her  own  opinions  and 
judgment  in  anything  relating  to  the  new  sphere  which  she 
had  been  called  so  late  in  life  to  occupy,  and  uncomfortably 
conscious  of  her  lack  of  early  social  culture,  was  easily  influ- 
enced by  her  daughters  on  all  questions  of  this  sort.  She 
would,  no  doubt,  have  been  prevailed  on  to  sacrifice  a  personal 
friendship  to  the  new  position  which  she  somehow  felt  it  a  re- 
ligious duty  to  sustain ;  but  in  this  instance  old  memories  were 
strong,  and  Rusha  had  put  the  whole  thing  in  a  light  which 
strengthened  one  of  the  weaknesses  of  her  mother's  character, 
and  that  was  lack  of  moral  courage,  and  she  came  out  strongly 
on  Rusha's  side. 

"  I  shall  be  real  glad  to  see  Mrs.  Bacon  and  the  girls,  and 


104  DAEETLL   GAP,   OE 

talk  old  times  over.  I  used  to  think  more  of  her  than  any 
neighbor  I  ever  had  down  there  in  Mystic." 

"  "Well,  I'm  thankful  that  we're  to  have  no  other  guests  to 
dinner,"  said  Ella,  in  a  tone  of  resigned  despair,  as  she  unbut- 
toned her  casaque.  "  I  should  certainly  have  invited  Mr. 
Howe  to  remain  had  not  I  trembled  at  the  thought  of  the  com- 
pany he  might  have  to  encounter." 

"  Look  here,  Ella,"  said  her  father,  with  unusual  severity ; 
"  I  wish  you  wouldn't  quote  that  young  man  quite  so  often,  or 
encourage  his  sticking  round  my  house.  As  for  his  turning 
up  his  nose  at  the  Bacons,  all  I've  got  to  say  is,  they're  a 
plaguy  sight  better  than  he  is,  with  his  airs  and  his  laziness. 
The  less  you  have  to  say  to  him,  the  better  it  will  be  for  you, 
in  more  senses  than  one." 

And  this  time,  if  John  Darryll's  words  were  ambiguous,  the 
meaning  of  his  tones  was  sufficiently  apparent.  A  few  minutes 
afterwards,  as  the  girls  were  removing  their  hats,  up  stairs, 
Rusha  caught  a  glimpse  of  her  sister's  face  in  the  glass,  looking 
gloomy  enough.  She  at  once  surmised  that  her  recognition  of 
the  Bacons  was  at  the  bottom  of  all  this,  and  her  remark  was 
founded  on  the  belief. 

"Why,  Ella,  haven't  you  got  over  that  yet?  I  didn't  sup- 
pose you  could  be  so  absurd  !  " 

"  It  isn't  the  Bacons  so  much ;  but  it  vexes  me  to  hear  pa 
come  out  as  he  did  to-day  on  Mr.  Howe.  It's  a  shame  ;  such 
a  perfect  gentleman,  and  so  much  admired  everywhere  !  " 

"  Well,  Ella,  I  must  say  that  I  sympathize  with  pa  there. 
I  could  never  imagine  what  you  or  anybody  else  found  in  the 
fellow  to  like.  He's  shallow  and  conceited  ;  don't  you  see  it?  " 

"  No,  I  don't,  Rusha  Darryll,"  her  voice  almost  as  indignant 
as  though  her  sister's  speech  were  a  personal  affront  —  "I 
should  think  you'd  be  ashamed  to  slander  him  so.  When  one 
thinks,  too,  how  his  society  is  courted  on  every  side,  and  that 
he  could  marry  into  the  very  first  families  in  New  York !  " 

A  suspicion  flashed  suddenly  across  Rusha's  thought.  "  Was 
her  sister  interested  in  this  Derrick  Howe?  He  had  just  those 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.   '  105 

qualities  that  would  attract  a  girl  of  Ella's  tastes,  and  there 
was  no  doubt  that  among  the  people  whose  opinions  would  be 
her  sister's  law,  Derrick  Howe  was  regarded  as  a  "  great  mat- 
rimohial  bargain." 

Several  small  circumstances  rose  up  to  confirm  Rusha's  newly 
aroused  suspicions.  "  The  very  idea  of  that  man's  being  my 
brother-in-law  !  "  thought  Rusha  ;  but  she  was  discreet  enough 
to  keep  her  fear  to  herself.  This  was  probably  only  a  passing 
fancy  on  Ella's  part,  she  reasoned,  and  it  would  be  certain  to 
vanish  with  the  new  conquests  she  would  make  this  summer, 
for  Ella  was  a  good  deal  of  a  coquette  —  "I  am  thankful  enough 
she  will  get  out  of  his  way  before  the  matter  grows  serious," 
concluded  Rusha,  dismissing  the  subject  from  her  thoughts. 

The  Bacons  certainly  had  nothing  to  complain  of  in  the  re- 
ception which  they  met  from  their  rich  friends  that  afternoon. 

Mr.  Darryll,  even,  wrung  the  hand  of  his  old  neighbor  with 
a  genuine  heartiness,  and  the  meeting  on  the  side  of  their  wives 
was  as  demonstrative  as  it  was  sincere.  There  were  tough 
fibres  of  old  memories  of  joys  and  sorrows,  running  through  a 
long  highway  of  years,  which  drew  the  hearts  of  the  women 
together,  despite  their  changed  fortunes. 

I  think  that  little  informal  dinner  company  was  one  of  the 
happiest  that  had  ever  gathered  around  the  table  of  John  Dar- 
ryll. It  is  true  the  guest  on  his  right  side  used  his  fork  for  a 
nut-picker,  and  was  evidently  mystified  by  the  finger-bowls. 

But  Mr.  Bacon  was  a  shrewd,  sensible  man,  for  all  that, 
and  had  a  sturdy  independence  that  compelled  respect ;  and 
his  wife  was  such  a  kind-hearted,  motherly  little  body,  that  it 
was  impossible  to  criticise  her  ;  and  the  girls  were  bright,  in- 
telligent, and  with  a  prompt  tact  that  served  them  in  place  of 
experience.  There  was  so  much  to  talk  of,  too  —  old  scenes  to 
recount,  new  stories  to  hear  and  relate. 

Even  Ella  gave  herself  up  to  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  and 
chatted  and  laughed  merrily  with  her  old  schoolmates,  when- 
ever she  could  make  herself  heard  betwixt  Andrew  and  Tom, 
who  kept  up  a  side  fire  of  jests  with  Lucy  and  Esther. 


106 

After  dinner  they  all  went  over  the  house,  with  which  the 
guests  were  fairly  dazzled,  except  Mr.  Bacon,  who  coolly  inquired 
the  names  and  uses  of  various  pieces  of  furniture,  into  which 
Ella,  without  the  shadow  of  a  sneer,  attempted  to  induct  Irim. 

After  the  survey  was  over,  they  all  came  back  into  the  draw- 
ing-room, and  Mrs.  Bacon,  establishing  herself  in  one  of  the 
luxurious  easy  chairs,  made  her  comments. 

"  Well,  I  declare,  it  almost  takes  my  breath  away  ;  but  yet, 
I  don't  know  as  I  envy  you,  though  I'm  afraid  it  will  put  dread- 
ful notions  into  my  girls'  heads,"  nodding  and  laughing  towards 
her  daughters.  "  Such  a  care  as  you  must  find  it,  Mrs.  Dar- 
ryll !  It  would  be  harder  to  me  than  my  dairy  at  Berry  Plains  ; 
but  then  I  wasn't  cut  out  for  a  fine  lady." 

"  Berry  Plains  !  Is  that  the  name  of  the  place  where  you 
now  live?  "  asked  Rusha.  "  How  pretty  it  sounds  !  " 

"  I  wish  you'd  come'and  see  how  pretty  it  looks,  Rusha.  It 
would  do  you  a  world  of  good  to  come  out  there  and  breathe 
the  fresh  sea  air,  and  you  should  have  a  nice  time,  if  it  was 
under  a  plain  old  farm-house  roof." 

"  Yes,  do  come,  Rusha,  dear,  when  the  fruits  are  ripe," 
cried  Lucy  and  Esther,  simultaneously. 

The  country  always  had  a  charm  for  Rusha.  "  Perhaps  I 
will,"  she  added,  "  when  we  get  through  with  the  watering- 
places." 

Then  the  girls  went  into  an  enthusiastic  description  of  all  the 
picturesque  points  in  the  vicinity  of  "  Berry  Plains,"  and  made 
all  sorts  of  pretty  plans,  if  Rusha  could  only  be  induced  to  visit 
them. 

"  Mayn't  I  come  too,  girls?"  interposed  Tom,  who  had  lis- 
tened to  the  vivacious  descriptions  with  a  good  deal  of  enjoy- 
ment. 

"  Tell  him  that  depends  on  how  he  will  behave  himself,"  sug- 
gested Rusha,  which  advice  was  at  once  merrily  acted  on. 

But  Rusha  gave  two  thirds  of  a  promise  to  visit  Berry  Plains 
that  summer,  the  invitation  being  afterwards  enlarged  to  em- 
brace the  whole  family. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  107 

"  "Well,  one  thing  I  must  say,"  remarked  little  Mrs.  Bacon, 
as  she  took  her  husband's  arm  after  they  had  left  the  house  — 
"  there  isn't  a  word  of  truth  in  all  we've  heard  about  the  Dar- 
rylls  being  so  set  up  over  their  fortune  ;  they  take  the  comfort 
of  it,  and  who  wouldn't  ?  but  it  hasn't  changed  their  hearts  and 
feelings  one  mite." 

"  That's  a  fact,  Jane." 

"  But  O,  pa  —  ma,  wasn't  it  all  splendid  1 "  chimed  in  Lucy 
and  Esther. 


108  DARRTLL    GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  season  had  reached  its  climacteric  when  the  Darrylls 
made  their  advent  at  Saratoga.  Such  a  gay,  bustling,  rain- 
bow-hued  summer  as  they  had  had,  full  of  changes,  sights,  and 
experiences,  which  had  brought  them  new  wisdom,  mostly  of 
this  world. 

They  had  led  a  giddy,  butterfly  sort  of  life  at  Newport,  which 
the  girls,  especially  Ella,  had  enjoyed  vastly,  and  afterwards 
they  went  up  to  the  White  Mountains.  Here  there  was  a  new 
revelation  to  Rusha.  Brought  face  to  face  with  the  awful  pres- 
ence and  glory  of  the  mountains,  everything  else  seemed  to  sink 
away  from  her  thought  and  interest. 

Her  soul  came  up  here  to  worship,  and  the  eternal  hills 
swered  this  girl.  Their  glory  exalted,  their  calm  strengthened 
her.  The  gay  life  at  the  hotels,  in  which  Ella  disported,  could 
not  persuade  her  away  from  the  majesty  and  beauty  outside. 
Up  amongst  the  hollows  that  made  dark-green  gashes  through 
the  heart  of  the  mountains  —  in  the  deep,  cool  silences  of  the 
wilderness  —  through  all  rough  and  rugged  paths,  searching  for 
new  passages  and  delights  of  scenery  —  where  some  mountain 
spring  seemed  to  make  a  glittering  trail  of  bloom  over  the 
stones  —  on  the  bank  of  some  small  lake  that  lay,  like  a  great 
white  pearl,  in  its  emerald  casket  —  under  old,  mighty  trees, 
whose  life  had  been  one  eternal  wrestling  with  storms,  wandered 
Rusha  Darryll,  her  face  gathering  into  it  every  day  some  new 
light  and  calm ;  for  the  God  after  whom  her  soul  went  groping 
blindly  was  nearer  to  her  up  here  in  the  awful  stillness  of  the 
mountains  than  He  was  down  there  in  the  giddy,  feverish, 
crowded  life  of  the  hotels,  where  the  rest  of  the  family  were 
absorbed  in  their  varied  aims  of  fashion  and  pleasure.  Into 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  109 

•what  paltry  and  insignificant  proportions  these  used  to  sink 
when  she  looked  down  on  them  from  her  physical  and  moral 
heights  !  Mrs.  Darryll  was  satisfied  with  the  views  from  the 
hotel  windows,  and  an  occasional  ride  with  a  party  of  other 
ladies  to  the  most  popular  resorts,  while  Ella  was  too  much 
occupied  with  her  toilet  and  flirtations  to  have  time  for  any- 
thing beyond  little  party  expeditions,  where  they  all  fluttered, 
and  laughed,  and  sparkled  in  their  gay  dresses,  and  returned, 
bringing  no  sheaves  with  them.  What  had  Nature  to  give  such 
people  as  these? 

With  her  brothers  it  was  somewhat  different.  Young  men 
are  always  fond  of  expeditions,  and  it  was  not  difficult  to 
impress  one  of  these  into  Rusha's  service  for  a  morning's 
ramble,  provided  there  was  nothing  of  greater  importance  on 
hand. 

The  awful  glory  and  burden  of  Niagara  was  Rusha's  next 
vision.  Perhaps  the  dissimilarity  of  their  characters  never  dis- 
covered itself  in  sharper  contrast  than  in  the  incidental  remarks 
of  the  two  sisters  on  that  last  night  at  the  Falls. 

"  I  am  so  glad  that  we  have  '  done '  the  White  Mountains 
and  Niagara,  before  we  get  to  the  Springs.  We  shall  be  able 
to  talk  about  them  now,"  remarked  Ella,  folding  her  laces  com- 
placently. 

"  I  shan't,"  answered  Rusha,  curtly.  "  The  Mountains  and 
the  Waters  transcend  all  power  of  language  in  my  thought." 

So  now  the  Darrylls  were  at  the  United  States,  and  it  was 
the  second  morning  of  their  advent,  and  the  family  were  gath- 
ered in  the  sitting-room  after  breakfast. 

"  Come,  Ella,"  said  Rusha,  "  let's  go  down  and  take  a  glass 
of  Congress,  and  a  stroll  in  the  park.  It's  charming  out  there. 
The  boys  will  go  with  us,  too." 

"  This  one  can't,"  answered  Andrew,  twirling  his  cane,  "  for 
I've  made  an  engagement  to  go  over  to  the  race-grounds  to-day. 
Splendid  show  of  horse-flesh  there.  Going  along,  Tom?" 

"  Can't,  sir,  this  morning.  I'm  committed  for  a  game  of 
billiards." 

10 


HO  DARRYLL   GAP,   OB 

"  Go  it  while  you're  young,  I  say,"  interposed  Guy,  whose 
advice  seemed  on  this  occasion  entirely  superfluous. 

"I  should  think  you  were  going  it,"  added  Mrs.  Darryll, 
with  that  slightly  querulous  tone  which  her  improved  fortunes 
had  not  vanquished.  "  The  way  we're  making  money  fly  here 
beats  me.  I'm  actually  afraid  to  meet  your  father  when  he 
comes  up,  with  these  bills  —  why,  they're  awful !  " 

"  Of  course,"  interposed  Ella  ;  "  one  can't  come  to  the  Springs 
for  nothing.  Pa  may  as  well  make  up  his  mind  to  that  first 
as  last,  and  we  haven't  had  a  thing  that  we  could  possibly  do 
without." 

"  I  s'pose,"  continued  the  mother,  adjusting  the  elaborate 
coiffure  which  became  her  matronly  face,  "  that  he  might  have 
stood  all  the  rest,  but  having  the  horses  at  the  Springs  will 
make  such  a  horrible  bill  of  expense  —  " 

"  Now,  see  here,  old  lady,"  broke  in  Andrew ;  "  there's  no 
use  in  coming  the  economical  dodge  here.  The  governor  must 
make  up  his  mind  to  shell  out  on  the  horse-flesh,  for  we  can't 
get  along  without  it." 

"  That's  so,"  added  Guy.  "  Don't  Rufus  put  our  span 
through  at  a  splendid  rate,  though !  Ain't  afraid  to  compare 
those  horses  with  any  on  the  ground,  sir ! " 

"  Ma,"  said  Ella,  with  immense  decision,  "  whatever  else  we 
give  up,  the  horses  aren't  to  be  thought  of.  There's  nothing 
tells  at  Saratoga  like  one's  own  private  turnout." 

"  No,  ma,"  subjoined  Rusha,  "  there  isn't,  really ;  we  must 
keep  the  horses  as  long  as  we  stay." 

Mrs.  Darryll,  who,  in  her  own  heart,  felt  a  great  deal  of  com- 
placency over  her  elegant  establishment,  gave  up  the  point ; 
indeed,  she  had,  all  this  time,  no  serious  intention  of  relinquishing 
the  carriage,  although  she  thought  the  suggestion  might  possibly 
act  as  a  wholesome  restraint  upon  the  tendencies  to  a  very  lavish 
use  of  money  in  both  her  sons  and  daughters. 

"  And  now,  Rusha,  that  matter  is  settled,  what  are  we  to 
wear  at  the  ball  this  evening !  You  know  it  is  to  be  the  most 
splendid  affair  of  the  season,  and  we  haven't  so  much  as  our 
hair-dressers  engaged  1  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  HI 

Rusha  sank  down  into  a  chair,  with  her  old,  annoyed  look, 
which  there  was  danger  would  perpetuate  itself  in  her  face. 

"It's  nothing  but  dress,  dress,  dress,  from  morning  until 
night ;  I'm  sick  of  the  very  name  !  " 

"  Well,  what  in  the  world  does  one  come  to  Saratoga  for,  I 
should  like  to  know,  except  to  dress  and  make  a  show?  You 
can't  expect  to  go  mooning  round  as  you  did  at  the  Mountains  ; 
and  you  know,  Rusha,  you  think  just'  as  much  of  looking  pretty 
as  any  of  the  rest  of  us." 

"  Of  course  I  do  ;  only  I  wish  the  process,  for  securing  such 
a  result,  wasn't  quite  so  formidable  a  one." 

"  Well,  for  my  part  I  think  the  trouble  pays." 

"  Well,  I'm  not  certain.     There's  the  diiference." 

"  Ella  thinks  it  pays,"  said  Guy,  whose  personal  comments 
were  often  a  source  of  annoyance  to  his  second  sister,  "  when 
there's  some  smart  young  men  round  to  be  taken  down,  and 
there'll  be  lots  of  them  to-night,  you  may  depend  !  " 

"  I  wonder  if  they  will  be  cut  and  dried  after  the  same  pattern 
as  those  we've  met  already.  If  they  are,  she's  welcome  to 
them,"  said  the  elder  sister,  in,  it  must  be  confessed,  not  a  very 
amiable  tone. 

"  Rusha,  how  disagreeable  you  are  this  morning  !  I  wonder 
what  sort  of  man  would  suit  you  !  " 

"  One,  Ella,  that  a  woman  could  look  up  to  with  respect, 
honor,  reverence,  if  there  are  any  such  men  in  the  world,  which 
I  very  much  doubt." 

"  I  think,"  said  Ella,  "  that  it  would  be  just  like  our  Rusha  to 
fall  in  love  in  some  romantic,  absurd  fashion,  such  as  one  reads 
of  in  a  novel,  but  never  expects  to  find  outside  of  a  book ;  to 
get  smitten,  for  instance,  with  a  wandering  minstrel,  whom  she 
would  fancy  a  grand  hero,  or  something  of  that  sort." 

"If  by  wandering  minstrel  you  mean  a  hand-organ  player, 
I  must  say  that  I  never  felt  particularly  attracted  towards  those 
who  have  thus  far  crossed  my  experience,"  laughing  in  spite  of 
herself. 

"  Well,  I  used  that  word  merely  for  want  of  a  better  one.     It 


112  DARRTLL    GAP,    OR 

would  certainly  be  in  keeping  with  the  whole  tone  and  ten- 
dency of  your  ideas  to  marry  some  singular,  visionary,  romantic 
character." 

"  I  know  a  man  who  would  suit  Rush"a,  and  he  is  neither 
*  singular,  visionary,  nor  romantic,' "  added  Tom,  getting  up, 
and  lounging  towards  the  door. 

"  Who  is  he,  Tom?"  asked  Rusha,  with  interest. 

"  I'll  tell  you  some  other  time ;  "  and  the  boys  went  out  to- 
gether, one  to  the  race-course,  the  other  to  the  billiard-room, 
the  third  —  to  use  his  own  expression  —  "  in  quest  of  any  fun 
that  turned  up." 

A  most  animated  discussion  ensued  betwixt  the  trio  of  girls, 
for  even  Agnes  was  to  attend  the  ball,  and  Rusha  was  soon  as 
deeply  absorbed  as  her  sisters  in  laces  and  ribbons,  and  the 
varied  paraphernalia  which  the  evening  festivities  demanded. 

In  the  course  of  the  morning,  however,  a  circumstance  trans- 
pired which  gave  her  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness.  She  was  in 
her  own  room,  searching  among  her  trunks,  when  there  was  a 
tap  at  the  door,  and  the  girl  entered. 

"  Here  is  a  letter  for  you,  Miss  —  " 

Rusha  lifted  up  her  head. 

"  O,  I  thought  it  was  Miss  Ella,"  and  the  girl  would  have 
withdrawn,  evidently  somewhat  disconcerted. 

"  She  has  only  gone  out  to  match  some  ribbons.  Give  me 
the  letter,  please,  and  I  will  see  that  she  has  it  on  her  return." 

The  girl  hesitated. 

"  But  Miss  Ella  said  I  must  be  sure  to  give  it  into  her  own 
hands." 

"  I'll  be  responsible,  if  there's  any  blame.     Let  me  have  it." 

The  letter  was  mailed  from  New  York.  The  handwriting 
was  not  familiar  ;  but  all  at  once  it  flashed  across  Rusha,  with 
the  force  of  conviction,  that  this  letter  was  from  Derrick  Howe. 
It  dropped  from  her  hands  on  the  table,  as  though  it  had  burned 
her.  Could  it  be  that  Ella  was  maintaining  a  surreptitious 
correspondence  with  this  young  man? 

She  recalled  the  suspicions  which  she  had  so  easily  laid  to' 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  113 

rest  before  they  left  home,  and  since  that  time  Ella  had  had 
some  foolish  flirtation  constantly  on  hand,  which  made  her  sister 
fancy  there  was  no  danger  of  her  concentrating  her  interest,  for 
the  present  at  least,*on  one  individual. 

Ella  was  extremely  fond  of  admiration,  and  the  showy,  bril- 
liant girl  certainly  had  attentions  enough  from  gentlemen  to 
stimulate  vanity  less  active  than  hers. 

Neither  had  Rusha  been  wanting  in  these,  for,  in  a  very  dif- 
ferent way,  she  was  quite  as  attractive  as  her  sister ;  and  she 
was  quite  as  susceptible  to  admiration,  too ;  only  she  was  too 
earnest  ever  to  be  a  successful  coquette.  If  people  interested 
her,  whether  men  or  women,  she  was  certain  to  show  it ;  if 
they  did  not,  she  was  not  good  at  disguises. 

"  But  could  it  be,"  she  asked  herself,  "  that  her  proud, 
imperious  sister  was  really  attracted  towards  this  Derrick 
Howe?  What  a  storm  there  would  be  if  her  father  sus- 
pected it !  The  man  had  seemed  from  the  beginning  to  be 
one  of  his  aversions,  and  Rusha  thought  that  of  all  the  silly, 
conceited  coxcombs  that  followed  in  Ella's  train,  this  man 
was  to  her  the  most  disagreeable.  Not  that  he  was  ^i  fool 
certainly,  but  something  in  him  repelled  her.  Still,  other 
women  did  not  think  so  —  women  of  Ella's  style.  What  should 
she  do?" 

While  she  was  reflecting,  Ella  suddenly  came  in,  and  Rusha 
spoke  —  perhaps  not  very  discreetly,  but  on  the  impulse  of  the 
moment  — 

"  Ella,  here  is  a  letter  which  the  girl  brought  in  during  your 
absence,  and  which  I  made  her  leave  with  me,  quite  reluctantly 
on  her  part.  I  see  by  the  handwriting  that  it  is  from  Derrick 
Howe.  I  am  shocked  to  find  that  you  will  allow  this  when  you 
know  how  it  would  vex  pa." 

"  He  asked  me  if  he  might  write,  and  what  could  I  tell  him  ?  " 
answered  Ella,  her  face  crimson,  and  annoyance  and  apology 
about  equally  distributed  through  her  tones. 

"  I  don't  think  it  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  find  an  answer," 
replied  her  sister,  with  a  great  deal  of  severity. 
10* 


114  DAEEYLL    GAP,   OB 

"  I  suppose  not ;  but  you  sympathize  with  pa's  unjust  dislike 
of  Mr.  Howe." 

"  Well,  Ella,  I  would  not  have  believed  you  would  have  done 
anything  so  underhand,  for  I  know  that  this  is  not  the  first 
letter,  and  that  you  must  have  answered  the  others." 

Ella  did  not  deny  it,  as  Rusha  half  hoped  she  would. 

"  O,  Ella,  Ella  !  " 

There  was  dismay  and  grief  in  the  elder  sister's  tone.  It 
troubled  or  touched  the  younger. 

"  Now  don't  fret  yourself,  Rusha,  about  the  matter.  I'm  not 
in  love  with  Derrick  Howe  or  any  other  man ;  and  I've  got 
plenty  of  strings  to  my  bow,  and  mean  to  have,  for  some  time 
to  come.  I'll  promise  that  I'll  stop  the  correspondence  at  once, 
if  you'll  agree  to  keep  silent  this  time." 

"You  will  promise  solemnly?  Otherwise,  Ella,  it  would  be 
my  duty  to  let  pa  know." 

That  prospect  was  not  agreeable.  Whatever  hold  Derrick 
Howe  had  obtained  on  Ella,  it  was  not  strong  enough,  as  Rusha 
saw,  to  defy  her  father's  anger,  and  the  latter  fell  back  on  the 
old  fancy  that,  with  Ella's  nature,  other  interests  would  absorb 
this  one. 

So  each  sister  gave  her  promise  to  the  other.  Whether  Rusha 
had  acted  wisely,  she  lived  to  question ;  but  that  was  when 
other  events  threw  greater  light  upon  this  one. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  H5 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

IF  you  know  what  fashionable  life  is  at  Saratoga,  you  will 
understand  what  the  next  three  weeks  were  to  the  Darrylls. 
It  was  their  first  season  there,  and  each  member  of  the  family 
went,  heart  and  soul,  into  the  whirl  of  gayeties,  dissipations, 
and  amusements  which  the  time  and  place  inspired. 

A  large  part  of  the  former  was  necessarily  consumed  by 
elaborate  toilets,  and  for  the  rest,  what  with  late  breakfasts, 
and  daily  drives,  and  promenades  to  the  springs,  and  concerts, 
and  balls,  time  never  hung  heavy  on  the  hands  of  any  of  them. 
While  this  summer's  experience  had  imparted  the  finishing 
touches,  the  Darrylls  —  at  least  the  juvenile  and  feminine  part 
of  the  family  —  were  now  fully  fledged  butterflies  of  fashion : 
each  one  had  fairly  profited  by  her  opportunities  and  experience, 
and  would  no  longer  awaken  any  suspicion  of  having  climbed 
suddenly  up  the  social  ladder  to  occupy  an  unaccustomed  height. 

The  season  was  drawing  to  its  close,  and  people  began  to 
talk  of  leaving,  and  Mrs.  Darryll,  on  whose  health  the  unceas- 
ing round  of  gayeties  began  to  tell  somewhat  sooner  than  on 
her  blooming  young  sons  and  daughter^,  said  to  them  one  morn- 
ing when  they  had  assembled  in  her  room,  as  was  customary, 
for  a  half  hour's  lounge  and  discussion  after  breakfast,  — 

"  I  must  say  I'm  getting  tired  out  with  all  this  endless  whirl, 
and  shall  be  glad  enough  to  get  home  again.  I  wrote  to  your 
father  he  might  look  for  us  back  next  week." 

"  I  s'pose  we've  got  to  go,  because  one  never  could  think  of 
staying  after  the  season  closes,"  said  Ella,  with  a  yawn  ;  "  but 
really,  if  it  wasn't  for  that,  I  should  be  in  no  hurry  to  get  home." 

"  Nor  I,"  piped  in  Agnes.  "  I  think  Saratoga  perfectly 
splendid." 


116  DARRTLL   GAP,    OB 

"  Confounded  place  for  bleeding  a  fellow,  though.  Haven't 
they  all  learned  the  ropes  here?"  rejoined  Andrew,  with  an 
unction  which  proved  he  was  speaking  from  personal  experience. 

"O,  it's  awful  —  perfectly  awful  to  think  of!"  added  Mrs. 
Darryll,  in  a  tone  that  was  partly  pathetic,  partly  solemn. 

"  Now,  Andrew,  how  could  you  start  mother  off  on  that 
track  ?  You  know  what  she  is  when  she  gets  to  going  there," 
said  Ella,  in  strong  admonition.  "  Rusha,"  changing  the  sub- 
ject with  her  prompt  tact,  "  I  must  say  your  blue  silk  looked 
finely  in  the  ball-room  last  evening." 

"  Don't  speak  of  ball-rooms,"  was  the  impatient  rejoinder. 
"  I'm  sick  of  the  very  thought  of  one." 

"O,  something  gone  wrong  again?"  asked  Ella,  as  though 
it  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  with  her  sister. 

"  Mother,"  asked  Rusha,  turning  about  suddenly,  and  speak- 
ing with  that  straightforward  abruptness  to  which  they  were  all 
accustomed,  "  do  you  believe  there  really  is  a  Devil?  " 

"  Why,  child,  what  a  question  !  Of  course  I  do  ;  the  Bible 
says  so." 

There  was  an  explosion  of  laughter  on  all  sides,  the  bright, 
hearty  mirth  of  the  young  voices  sounding  very  pleasant,  so 
much  so  that  it  persuaded  Rusha  to  join  in  it ;  but  her  face  was 
grave  enough  a  moment  later,  when  she  said,  — 

"  Well,  if  there  is  one,  I  think  we  must  all  be  going  straight 
to  him ! " 

"Why,  what  have  w£  done?"  asked  Agnes,  her  blue  eyes 
wide  open  with  amazement. 

"  That's  just  what  I  was  going  to  ask,"  added  Ella. 

"  I  shouldn't  suppose  it  would  be  necessary  to  inquire,"  was 
the  unsatisfactory  response. 

"  Yes  it  is  ;  if  you've  found  out  we're  booked  to  that  individ- 
ual, you  ought  to  let  a  fellow  know,  so  that  he  can  turn  about," 
added  Tom,  at  which  Agnes  and  Guy  tittered,  and  his  mother 
said,  reprovingly,  — 

"  Tom  !  Tom  !  don't  make  fun  of  serious  things." 

"  What  have  we  all  done?"  said  Rusha,  taking  up  her  sister's 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  H7 

question.  "  Haven't  we  been, -throughout  this  summer,  living 
a  life  of  selfish  enjoyment,  of  every  extravagance,  and  dissipa- 
tion, and  luxury?  Haven't  we  consumed  our  days  and  nights 
with  dress,  and  frivolity,  and  gayety  of  every  sort,  and  all  this 
time  that  awful  darkness  of  civil  war  has  been  hanarinir  over 

O        O 

our  land  ?  A  few  hundred  miles  from  here  our  brothers  have 
been  fighting,  and  bleeding,  and  dying  for  us.  They  have  been 
starving  in  Southern  prisons  —  they  have  been  languishing  in 
crowded  hospitals  —  they  have  been  sinking  in  long,  dreary 
marches  by  night  and  day,  to  buy  us  liberty.  O,  how  often 
in  the  ball-room,  when  the  music  and  merriment  were  all 
at  their  very  highest,  have  I  seemed  to  see  the  haggard,  re- 
proachful faces  of  those  sick  and  dying  men,  and  heard  their 
voices  calling  to  me,  '  Is  it  to  buy  liberty  for  such  as  you  that 
we  are  laying  down  our  lives  ? '  I  have  envied  the  women  who 
have  left  their  homes  and  sacrificed  every  comfort  and  pleasure 
of  life  to  go  down  as  nurses  in  the  hospitals,  and  day  by  day 
the  voice  of  my  own  soul  has  said  to  me,  '  You  are  unworthy, 
Rusha  Darryll,  of  your  sex  or  your  country,  to  waste  your 
time  and  thought  in  miserable  ways  like  these,  while  your 
land  is  in  her  awful  struggle  of  life  or  death.  Brave  men  are 
dying,  women  are  made  widows,  and  little  chilren  fatherless, 
for  such  ungrateful  things  as  you ! '  And  I  have  felt  so 
utterly  mean  and  degraded  that  I  have  almost  wished  the 
earth  would  open  and  swallow  me  up,  and  wondered  that  God 
did  not  once  more  rain  down  fire,  and  sweep  off  from  the  face 
of  the  earth  everybody  who  takes  part  in  gayeties  and  revels 
in  a  time  like  this  ! " 

The  earnest  voice  had  held  every  listener.  The  words  she 
spoke  now  had  been  seething  in  Rusha  Darryll's  soul  more  or 
less  ever  since  she  had  left  home  ;  and  now,  when  they  could  be 
no  longer  repressed,  they  broke  out  strong  and  fervid  as  the 
nature  in  which  they  had  so  long  dwelt.  They  could  hardly 
fail  to  impress  for  the  moment  her  audience.  Whatsoever 
of  right  or  generous  instinct  was  there  must  respond  more 
or  less  to  the  truth  that  young,  eloquent  voice  put  to  each 


118  DAERTLL    GAP,    OB 

so  strongly.  For  a  moment  after  she  ceased  there  was  silence  ; 
and  Guy  broke  it,  drawing  a  long  breath,  and  expressing  in  his 
rough  way  the  impression  that  his  sister's  speech  had  made  on 
his  boyish  nature  :  — 

"  I  tell  you,  though,  Rusha's  some  pumpkins  when  she  gets 
to  talking.  She  makes  one  feel  small,  boys." 

Ella  was  the  first  to  rally.  "  Well,  I  always  said  this  war 
was  an  awful  thing,  and  I  pity  the  men  who  have  been  dragged 
into  it.  But  then  what  good  will  it  do  for  us  to  sit  at  home  in 
sackcloth  ai*d  ashes,  and  not  take  a  moment's  comfort  of  our 
lives  because  the  people  are  at  war  with  each  other?  As  for 
hospital  nurses,"  and  she  gave  a  little  shudder,  "  you  know  we 
could  never  come  to  that,  Rusha." 

"  I'm  not  so  certain,  Ella.  But  granting  that  we  have  not 
the  years  and  experience  indispensable  for  these,  we  could  give 
our  time  and  means  to  our  country,  instead  of  expending  them 
on  ourselves  and  our  dresses." 

"  Well,  if  you  will  set  the  example,  perhaps  I  shall  be  stimu- 
lated to  join  you  in  good  works,  only,"  a  little  afraid  that  Rusha 
might  take  up  her  proposition,  "  you  know  that  you  and  I  do 
not  agree  as  to  the  necessity  of  this  war.  I  think,  for  my  part, 
it's  the  duty  of  those  who  brought  such  a  dreadful  state  of 
things  upon  the  country  to  see  us  out  of  it,  and  in  my  opinion 
the  only  way  to  do  that  is  to  make  terms  with  the  South." 

"  And  who  are  the  men  who,  as  you  say,  Ella,  brought  this 
war  on  us?" 

"You  know  well  enough  —  the  Abolitionists  and  Agitators, 
with  all  that  eternal  harping  on  slavery." 

Rusha  opened  her  lips  to  speak,  and  Ella  saw  that  she  had 
imprudently  thrown  down  the  gauntlet  to  an  antagonist  who 
generally  got  the  better  of  her  in  all  discussions  of  this  sort, 
when  her  mother  came  authoritatively  to  the  rescue  :  — 

"  Now,  girls,  stop  just  where  you  are.  You  know  to  what 
this  talk  always  leads,  and  you'll  get  straight  into  a  wrangle 
about  politics,  which,  in  my  opinion,  the  less  women  have  to  do 
with,  the  better." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  119 

"  I  haven't  any  opinions  to-day,"  replied  Ella,  very  willing  to 
be  let  off  so  easily,  and  getting  off  the  lounge  with  a  yawn. 
"  The  truth  is,  I  was  out  so  late  last  night  that  I'm  completely 
used  up  this  morning." 

"  O,  Rusha,  I  forgot,  here's  a  letter  for  you,"  said  Tom.  "  It 
came  yesterday." 

She  seized  it  eagerly,  as  all  young  girls  do  letters,  opened 
and  read  it,  looking  up  at  the  close :  — 

"  It's  from  Esther  and  Lucy  Bacon  —  dear  girls  !  —  with  a 
most  pressing  invitation  for  me  to  come  on  and  pass  a  week  or 
two  with  them  before  I  return  to  New  York.  Such  delightful 
rides  and  rambles  and  all  sorts  of  good  times  as  they  prophesy  ! 
Now,  how  pleasant  it  would  be  to  drop  down  there  in  that  old 
farm-house,  and  have  a  little  rest  and  careless  freedom  before 
one  goes  back  to  the  city !  " 

"  Shut  up  away  off  there  in  that  old  country  farm-house," 
remarked  Ella,  "  I  should  think  it  would  be  an  intolerable 
bore,"  shrugging  her  shoulders. 

"  I'm  sure  I  should  enjoy  it  immensely,  if  one  of  you  boys 
would  only  go  with  me." 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  Andrew,  "  I've  other  fish  to  fry." 

"  How  long  is  the  journey?  "  asked  Tom,  reflectively. 

"  Less  than  a  day,  Lucy  says.  O,  Tom,  if  you  would  only 
go  now.  How  delighted  they  would  be  !  " 

"  And,  Tom,  I  say,  you  could  help  those  pretty  country 
girls  churn  the  butter  and  milk  the  cows  —  capital  sport !  "  ral- 
lied Andrew,  who  now  affected  fashion  and  foppery  in  every 
form. 

"  Don't  mind  what  he  says,  Tom  ;  "  and  Rusha's  hand  dropped 
coaxingly  on  the  shoulder  of  her  favorite  brother.  "  You 
know  we  could  have  a  glorious  time  there  ;  "  and  she  went  on, 
dilating  in  glowing  terms  on  the  varied  delights  which  the  pros- 
pect of  a  visit  to  Berry  Plains  afforded,  until  Tom  was  fairly 
won  over  into  a  promise  of  accompanying  her. 

"  I'm  not  going  to  be  bullied  by  Andrew,"  he  said,  stoutly 
enough,  but  with  an  inward  consciousness  that  he  would  have 


120  DABETLL    GAP,   OR 

to  stand  a  merciless  fire  of  running  jests  from  his  brother  about 
"  blooming  country  milkmaids,"  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 
"  If  you  go,  Rusha,  I  will,  hang  me  if  I  won't." 

"  O,  ma,  do  say  I  may  go,  just  for  a  week  or  two  —  it  will 
do  me  so  much  good,  and  Mrs.  Bacon  will  take  nice  care  of 
me,"  appealed  Rusha. 

"Well,  I'll  see  what  your  father  says  when  he  comes  up 
Saturday  night." 

Rusha  knew  her  point  was  gained  then. 

But  on  what  very  small  hinges  turn  the  great  destinies  of 
life !  Rusha  Darryll  little  suspected  that  interview  on  Broad- 
way with  the  Bacons  would  in  some  sense  shape  and  color  all 
her  future. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  121 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

"  MRS.  BACON  —  Lucy  —  Esther  —  we've  come  ! " 

The  clear,  glad  tones  rang  like  a  bell  through  the  stillness  of 
the  old  farm-house,  and  there  ensued  a  sudden  rush  of  females 
from  kitchen  and  dairy  to  the  front  hall,  where  the  mysterious 
announcement  disclosed  itself  in  the  shape  of  Rusha  and  Tom 
Darryll. 

There  was  no  doubt  of  the  welcome  that  followed  —  noisy, 
hearty,  gleeful,  with  old-fashioned  hugs  and  shaking  of  hands 
that  were  pleasant  to  see,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  Tom  declared 
that  he  "  must  come  in  for  his  share,"  and  was  actually  kissing 
Lucy  and  Esther  on  either  cheek  before  they  comprehended 
what  he  was  about,  when  it  was,  of  course,  too  late  to  prevent 
his  audacity. 

"  Girls,"  laughed  Rusha,  "  you  know  that  he  was  to  come 
only  on  condition  that  he  behaved  himself,  and  I  assure  you 
that  he  will  have  to  be  constantly  reminded  of  his  precarious 
foothold  here." 

"  Yes,  Tom,  we  shan't  allow  you  to  forget  it,  if  you  go  on  in 
this  way,"  answered  Lucy,  glancing  archly  over  her  shoulder 
as  she  led  the  way  into  the  pleasant,  old-fashioned  parlor,  where 
her  mother  was  already  unclosing  the  blinds. 

"  Why  didn't  you  write  and  let  us  know  you  were  coming, 
in  time,  Rusha  dear,  so  that  pa  could  meet  you  at  the  depot?" 
asked  Mrs.  Bacon. 

"  Because  Tom  and  I  made  a  plot  to  take  you  quite  by  sur- 
prise ;  and  such  a  jolting  as  we  have  had  over  the  hills  for  the 
last  hour  in  that  lumbering  old  stage  !  I  enjoyed  it  immensely, 
though,  and  whenever  we  came  on  a  particularly  rough  sec- 
tion, I  told  Tom,  for  his  consolation,  that  it  was  only  a  faint 
11 


122  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

reminder  of  the  sort  of  travel  our  grandfathers  and  grandmothers 
had  to  undergo." 

"  Yes,  girls,"  laughed  Tom,  "  Rusha  took  it  like  a  heroine, 
and  the  harder  the  jolt  the  better  she  seemed  to  like  it ;  but  I 
must  say,  without  intending  any  disrespect  to  my  grandfathers 
and  grandmothers,  that  my  bones  were  decidedly  in  favor  of 
modern  travel." 

There  was  a  general  laugh  here,  and  when  Mrs.  Bacon 
could  be  heard,  she  inquired  about  the  health  of  the  universal 
Darryll  family. 

"  All  well  and  flourishing,  thank  you,  after  the  Saratoga 
siege,  which  isn't  a  light  one.  We  disintegrated  at  the  steam- 
boat yesterday  morning,  Andrew  and  Guy  undertaking  to  see 
ma  and  the  girls  comfortably  down  the  Hudson,  while  Tom  and 
I  beat  a  retreat  to  you.  Are  we  too  late  for  the  berries? " 

"  O,  no,  indeed,"  put  in  Lucy  and  Esther,  simultaneously. 
"  The  berries  are  just  in  their  prime,  and  the  peaches  and  the 
pears  —  "  Here  one  voice  drowned  the  other,  and  in  the  midst 
of  it  all  Mrs.  Bacon  bustled  off  to  the  dairy,  on  hospitable 
deeds  intent,  and  left  the  young  folks  to  make  their  plans  for 
future  picnics  and  exploits,  which  they  did,  chatting  away  like 
so  many  magpies,  with  peals  of  laughter  at  the  droll  remarks 
of  Tom,  who  really  outshone  himself  on  this  occasion. 

And  at  last  Mr.  Bacon,  who  had  no  suspicion  of  all  which 
had  transpired,  having  been  engaged  since  dawn  in  clearing  out 
some  woodland,  returned  home,  and  was  despatched  by  his 
wife,  without  any  previous  enlightenment,  to  the  parlor,  which 
he  entered  in  his  shirt  sleeves ;  and  if  his  welcome  to  his  guests 
was  not  quite  as  demonstrative  as  his  wife's,  it  was  equally 
hearty. 

What  a  transition  was  this  life  at  the  farm-house,  this  hearty, 
rioting,  careless  home-life,  to  that  gay,  luxurious,  artificial  one 
out  of  which  she  had  just  passed  !  Rusha  entered  into  it  with 
an  intense  relish,  which  proved  there  was  something  sound  at 
the  core  of  her  nature.  She  put  those  little,  soft,  white  hands 
of  hers  into  all  sorts  of  dairy  work,  with  that  pretty,  half  child- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  123 

ish  earnestness  that  was  so  characteristic  of  her.  She  was 
now  energetically  turning  the  cheese-press  with  Mrs.  Bacon, 
and  now  she  was  assisting  Lucy  in  the  revolutions  of  the  churn, 
and  then,  with  her  little  sun-hat  aslant  on  her  hair,  she  was 
eagerly  searching  among  the  hay,  with  Tom  and  Esther,  for 
freshly-laid  eggs. 

Saratoga  set  no  such  roses  in  her  cheeks  as  those  mornings 
among  the  hills — mornings  whose  dewy  freshness  was  stung 
through  with  all  fragrant  wood-scents,  and  with  the  fine  salt 
savor  of  the  sea,  for  the  old  Bacon  homestead  stood  only 
about  three  miles  back  from  the  shore,  down  near  the  south- 
eastern curve  of  the  Massachusetts  coast. 

Rusha's  enthusiasm  was  of  a  contagious  nature,  and  her 
companions  were  bright,  merry,  responsive,  "  with  not  quite  so 
many  airs,"  as  Tom  privately  expressed  it  to  his  sister,  "  but 
every  bit  as  intelligent  as  any  of  your  Newport  and  Saratoga 
belles,"  to  which  Rusha  heartily  assented. 

So  the  young  folks  passed  most  of  their  time  out  of  doors  inj 
all  sorts  of  berrying  exploits,  and  improvised  picnics,  and 
searches  for  picturesque  points,  while  Mrs.  Daggett  remained 
at  home  absorbed  in  the  preparation  of  meals,  whose  sight 
would  have  tempted  an  epicure,  and  to  which  the  tired  and 
hungry  party  were  certain  to  bring  ample  appetites  at  last. 

Rusha's  face  came  out  now  of  all  the  weariness  and  dissatis- 
faction which  it  so  frequently  carried.  Bright,  fresh,  eager,  it 
had  never  looked  so  pretty  as  in  these  days,  when  there  was 
nobody  to  admire  it  except  farmer  Bacon  and  his  family. 

It  seemed  as  though  everything  conspired  to  make  this  visit 
complete.  It  was  in  the  early  September,  and  the  days  wore 
their  garments  of  autumn  sunshine,  the  air  swung  through  its 
vast  censer  all  sweet  perfumes,  and  every  hour  seemed  to  have 
been  let  right  down  out  of  heaven,  with  the  joy  and  glory  lin- 
gering yet  upon  its  face.  And  in  this  merry,  simple,  whole- 
some life,  in  this  beauty  and  glory  of  the  year,  Rusha's  soul 
came  out  of  the  doubts  and  bewilderments  which  made  so  much 
of  her  life  a  perplexity  and  a  discord. 


124  DAEEYLL    GAP,   OR 

In  a  way  that  she  knew  not  of,  the  human  heart  of  His  child 
drew  nearer  her  Father  as  she  went  out  day  by  day  into  the 
great  tabernacle  of  nature  which  He  had  set  as  a  witness  for 
Himself  in  the  earth.  In  a  blind,  uncertain  way  it  is  true, 
she  went  up  to  her  worship,  but  mind  and  heart  were  both 
soothed,  gladdened,  strengthened,  a,nd  somehow  she  found  her- 
self dreading  a  return  to  the  world  she  had  left  behind  her  ; 
and  this  feeling  discovered  itself  in  some  plans  they  were  lay- 
ing, one  evening  after  tea,  for  the  next  day's  expedition. 

"  Lucy,"  said  Esther,  "  we  haven't  taken  Rusha  and  Tom 
over  to  the  cave  yet.  It's  a  real  natural  curiosity,  and,  indeed, 
the  chief  attraction  to  strangers  in  this  vicinity.  Suppose  we 
go  over  there  to-morrow.  The  berries  will  keep  until  next 
day." 

"Where  is  this  cave,  Esther?"  inquired  Tom. 

"  Not  more  than  four  miles  from  here,  down  among  the  rocks 
by  the  shore.  The  scenery  is  wild  and, interesting  all  the  way, 
"so  much  so  that  there  are  several  private  boarding-houses  in  the 
vicinity  always  filled  with  people  from  the  city." 

"  Then  that's  all  I  want  to  know  of  the  cave  !  "  supplemented 
Rusha. 

"  What  does  all  that  mean?  "  asked  Tom,  for  his  sister  had 
enforced  her  words  by  a  grimace  that  drew  a  laugh  from  her 
friends. 

"  It  means  that  I  abhor  and  detest  people  from  the  city  in 
all  shapes  and  ways  —  that  I'll  run  away  from  them  as  I  would 
from  snakes  and  bears.  I've  had  enough  of  them  this  summer." 

Lucy  patted  her  friend  on  the  shoulder,  thinking  this  was. 
another  of  Rusha's  pretty  whims,  which  the  whole  family  was 
ready  to  indulge  to  any  extent. 

"  There's  very  little  probability  of  our  meeting  anybody  on 
the  'rocks,  and  if  we  should  chance  to  come  upon  a  party  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  avoid  them." 

"  But  what  sort  of  a  cave  is  it?  "  pursued  Rusha.  "  Has  it 
a  history,  or  a  witch  with  burning  eyes  and  wild  hair,  or  a  tra- 
dition of  a  bear,  or  any  pleasant  savor  of  dark  mystery  and 
tragedy  clinging  to  it  ?  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  125 

"  Nothing  of  the  kind,"  laughed  Lucy.  "  It's  the  most  in- 
nocent cave  imaginable — just  a  little,  dark,  square  room,  made 
by  the  overhanging  rocks  ;  and  at  the  entrance  there  is  a  mag- 
nificent view  of  the  sea  and  the  long  line  of  coast,  and  you  can 
see  the  fishermen's  nets  laid  out  to  dry,  and  their  little  houses 
scattered  all  along  among  the  rocks,  and  their  wives  netting 
seine  in  the  doorways." 

This  picture  attracted  Rusha.  "  It  would  all  be  new  to  us, 
Tom,"  she  said.  "  But  the  cave  would  be  so  much  more  inter- 
esting if  it  only  had  some  dark  mystery  or  tragedy  associated 
with  it." 

"  Let  us  go  there  and  make  one,"  said  Tom ;  and  so  it  was 
settled,  half  in  jest,  that  they  should  visit  the  rocks  next  day. 

The  hearty,  out-door  life  necessitated  early  bed-time,  and 
such  sound,  sweet  sleep  as  Rusha  had  been  a  stranger  to  since 
her  childhood ;  but  that  night,  before  she  reached  her  chamber, 
she  turned  back,  rubbing  her  sleepy  eyes  wide  open  enough  to 
find  her  way  down  stairs. 

"  Mrs.  Bacon,"  she  said,  startling  that  energetic  house- 
keeper as  she  was  putting  out  the  lights,  "  you  know  I  am  to  be 
called  up  in  time  to  take  my  first  lesson  in  milking  to-morrow 
morning." 

"  So  she  is  — bless  her  heart !  "  said  the  warm-hearted  little 
woman,  as  she  turned  round  and  caught  a  vision  of  a  very  fair 
face,  in  the  wide  old  doorway,  with  the  fingers  rubbing  the 
sleepy  brown  eyes,  just  like  a  tired  little  child's  ;  and  while  she 
looked  the  vision  was  gone. 
11* 


126  DAHBYLL   GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  next  day  seemed  another  living  glory  and  joy  let  down 
out  of  heaven.  Only  the  autumn  holds  such.  The  earth  was 
entranced  with  it.  Such  radiance  of  sunshine  ;  such  joy  of  winds 
in  leaves  and  grasses  ;  such  sail  of  purple  and  silver  mists  along 
the  heights  of  the  mountains ;  such  a  vast  praise  and  worship 
of  sky  and  earth  as  is  sometimes  sent  us  as  a  witness  and 
prophesy  of  the  glory  that  shall  be. 

The  little  party  started  off  after  an  early  lunch,  in  farmer 
Bacon's  country  wagon,  this  having  superseded,  for  the  excur- 
sion, the  family  buggy,  which,  though  more  respectable,  was  less 
capacious.  Tom  managed  to  whisper  his  sister,  as  he  handed 
her  into  the  wagon,  "  What  would  Ella  say  to  see  us  now  ?  She 
and  mother  must  be  taking  their  airing  down  Broadway  about 
this  time." 

A  vision  of  the  elegant  "turnout,"  with  its  liveried  coach- 
man, rose  before  Rusha,  and  she  glanced  at  the  old  wagon  and 
ancient  mare,  which  had  done  veteran  service  betwixt  the  farm- 
house and  the  mill,  and  the  contrast  forced  a  laugh  from  her, 
in  which  Tom,  guessing  his  sister's  thought,  joined  heartily. 

"  Never  mind,  Tom  ;  I  think  we're  the  happiest  —  at  least  I 
wouldn't  exchange." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Torn,  gathering  up  the  reins. 

Rusha  stood  there,  all  alone,  looking  out  to  sea,  for  while 
Tom  had  gone  off  with  the  girls  to  gather  sea-weed  among  the 
rocks,  she  had  returned,  drawn  by  some  irresistible  spell  to  this 
point.  Behind  her  was  the  dark,  narrow  entrance  to  the  cave 
—  around  her  the  bare,  gray  headlands,  and  beyond,  the  long, 
brown  curve  of  beach,  and  the  green  glitter  of  the  waves,  as  they 
ran  up  the  sands.  The  pleasant  laughter  of  the  others  came  up  to 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  127 

Rusha  Darryll,  as  she  stood  there  among  the  rocks,  looking  off 
at  the  wide,  blue  flooring  of  ocean,  and  thinking,  with  some  new 
thrill  of  gladness  and  reverence,  of  Him  who  had  laid  those 
vast  timbers  of  its  waters,  and  shut  the  doors,  and  set  the  bars 
and  bolts  of  the  mighty  sea  that  strove  and  wrestled  vainly 
beneath  her.  Do  you  see  her  as  she  stands  there  against  the 
bare,  gray  background  of  rocks,  all  aglow  in  the  sunshine,  her 
small  hat  drooping  on  one  side  of  her  head,  her  lips  and  cheeks 
full  of  a  new,  bright  bloom,  with  a  warm  glitter  of  sunlight  in 
her  fine  brown  hair,  and  her  dress,  some  soft  fabric  of  delicate 
brown  tints  floating  about  her,  making  altogether  a  striking 
picture  against  the  gray  of  the  rocks  ? 

Suddenly  the  wind  brought  round  to  her  a  most  unwelcome 
sound  of  human  voices  close  at  hand  —  merry  voices,  one  of 
which  rose  above  the  rest,  with  a  kind  of  laughing  impatience. 
"  I  wonder  if  there  is  anything  to  see  worth  such  a  rocky  pil- 
grimage as  this !  " 

"  Look  there,  and  tell  us,"  answered  another  voice,  and  then 
—  Rusha  had  no  time  to  run  away  —  several  figures  came  around 
the  sharp  angle  of  the  rocks  —  there  was  a  sudden  start  and 
recoil  on  their  part  —  she  looked  up,  and  met  a  brown-bearded 
face,  without  any  suspicion  of  the  singular  impression  she  was 
making  there,  alone,  in  that  attitude  on  the  rocks  —  a  pair  of 
dark  eyes  searched  her  a  moment  through  their  glasses. 

"  Is  it  possible  —  have  you  dropped  from  the  clouds,  Miss 
Darryll?" 

"Dr.  Rochford?"  surprise  and  pleasure  just  balancing  them- 
selves in  her  glance  and  smile,  as  he  gave  her  his  hand. 

"  Of  all  places  in  the  world,  this  is  the  last  one  in  which  I 
should  have  expected  to  find  you." 

She  evidently  relished  the  young  man's  surprise  so  much  that 
she  was  in  no  hurry  to  enlighten  him,  and  in  a  moment  he  had 
sufficiently  recovered  to  turn  and  present  his  sisters  to  her. 

It  was  natural  the  ladies  should  regard  each  other  with  some 
curiosity.  Rusha  thought  that  the  doctor's  sisters  fully  sus- 
tained Tom's  definition  of  what  a  real  lady  was,  and  they  were 


128  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

prepared  to  feel  an  interest  in  her  derived  from  their  brother's 
estimate  of  the  girl. 

"  Now,  Miss  Rusha,  am  I  to  be  illuminated  or  not,  as  to 
when  and  how  you  got  here  ?  "  inquired  the  doctor,  as  soon  as 
the  presentations  were  over. 

"  Not  quite  yet,"  with  a  little  playful  defiance  in  her  smile. 
*'  The  ocean  should  have  your  first  regard." 

They  were  the  sort  of  people  to  understand  the  fine  appreci- 
ation of  the  scene  before  them,  which  this  remark  indicated, 
and  for  a  few  minutes  that  followed,  there  were  no  words  spo- 
ken that  went  outside  of  the  picture  of  sea,  and  sky,  and  line 
of  coast,  but  standing  still,  and  silent  for  the  most  part,  each 
drank  in  the  power  and  beauty  of  the  view.  Then  at  last  Sicily 
turned,  and  with  that  bright  playfulness  which  was,  in  its  way, 
as  attractive  as  the  sweet  gravity  of  her  elder  sister,  she  said, 
"  I  suspect  our  brother  is  consuming  with  curiosity,  and  I  con- 
fess to  sharing  it,  Miss  Darryll." 

"  Then,  dearly  as  I  love  a  mystery,  I  will  not  keep  mine  any 
longer.  Instead  of  dropping  from  the  clouds,  I  came  here  in 
the  most  prosaic,  old-fashioned  country  wagon." 

The  ladies  glanced  around  them  at  the  jagged  headlands. 

"  O,  I  mean  as  far  as  the  little  grove  of  pines  at  your  right. 
I  scrambled  up  the  rocks  with  the  rest  of  our  little  party,  and 
tried  to  go  down  with  them  when  they  set  off  on  a  search  for 
shells  and  sea-weed,  but  the  view  here  compelled  me  back  again, 
and  there  it  stands,  my  defence  and  apology." 

Her  hearers  evidently  regarded  it  as  an  ample  one,  but  the 
doctor  still  pursued,  — 

"  You  are  visiting  in  this  vicinity,  then  ?  " 

"  O,  yes  —  I  beg  pardon  —  my  account  must  seem  very  inco- 
herent. When  the  time  came  for  our  family  to  return  to  New 
York,  after  a  summer  crowded  with  all  sorts  of  gayety  and 
sight-seeing,  I  took  a  fancy  to  run  oif  to  Berry  Plains,  to  which 
some  old  friends  and  former  neighbors  of  ours  had  removed. 
I  wanted  a  taste  of  real,  old-fashioned,  homely  country  life, 
which  I  was  certain  to  find  here,  and  I  persuaded  Tom  into 
accompanying  me." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  129 

"  Thank  you.  I  am  sure  Fletcher  feels  relieved  now,"  added 
Sicily,  archly. 

"  And  now,  won't  you  catechise  me  in  turn,  Miss  Rusha,  else 
I  shall  have  an  uncomfortable  feeling  of  having  been  intrusive  ?  " 

"  If  you  put  it  in  that  light,  certainly ;  not  admitting  for  a 
moment  that  I  share  your  feeling  of  curiosity." 

The  doctor  then  proceeded  briefly  to  inform  Rusha  that  he 
had  established  his  sisters  for  a  month  in  a  quiet  boarding- 
house,  less  than  two  miles  off,  where  they  had  found  plenty  of 
sea-bathing  and  country  air,  and  quiet,  they  not  taking  kindly 
to  fashionable  haunts,  or  gayeties  of  any  sort  that  summer, 
while  he  himself  managed  to  run  away  to  them  every  moment 
that  he  could  spare,  and  a  good  many  that  he  could  not." 

After  these  mutual  explanations,  a  talk  —  informal  on  all 
sides  —  ensued.  Under  different  circumstances  the  Rochfords 
and  Rusha  could  not  have  become  so  well  acquainted  for  months  ; 
but  mere  conventionalities  were  of  course  out  of  place,  on  those 
lonely  headlands,  with  that  vast  illuminated  missal  of  sky  and 
earth  spread  out  before  them. 

Talk  it  was  of  a  sort  that  Rusha  relished  keenly,  and  that 
brought  out  the  brightest  mood  of  the  girl ;  talk  that  played 
and  sparkled  mostly,  and  yet  that  every  now  and  then  was 
shaded  with  some  seriousness,  as  is  always  the  case  with  people 
who  have  thought  and  felt  deeply  and  conscientiously,  and  that 
was  full  of  pleasant  allusion,  association,  suggestion. 

At  last  there  was  a  shout  from  voices  below,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment Tom  and  his  companions  panted  up  the  rocks. 

"  Rusha  Darryll,  such  a  search  as  we  have  had  after  you ! 
You  are  the  most  provoking  —  why  —  why,  doctor  !  "  as  he 
caught  sight  of  the  physician,  and  the  ladies  beyond.. 

Great  was  Tom's  amazement,  shared  by  Lucy  and  Esther ; 
but  a  few  explanations  despatched  the  whole  matter,  and  the 
party  thus  reenforced  made  a  descent  to  the  beach,  as  hilarious 
a  little  company  as  you  can  imagine. 

Two  or  three  hours  later,  Rusha  said,  looking  off  at  the  west 
where  the  clouds  burned  like  one  vast  mountain  on  fire,  "  O, 


130 

dear,  to  think  there  must  come  a  sunset  to  the  very  brightest 
days  of  one's  life  !  " 

"  And  a  sunrise  to  the  darkest  night ! "  added  the  doctor, 
who  happened  to  be  standing  near  her  at  the  moment. 

She  turned  upon  him  the  brightness  of  her  face.  "  O, thank 
you !  I  shall  try  and  remember  that  some  time  —  some  time 
when  I  have  need  of  it." 

"  I  have  been  thinking,"  said  Angeline  Rochford,  looking  up 
from  a  little  collection  of  shells  and  sea-plants  which  she  had  been 
assorting  with  Lucy  and  Esther  Bacon,  "  that  it  was  not  pos- 
sible you  could  ever  have  any  need  of  that  sort." 

Some  feeling  slipped  like  a  shadow  over  the  light  in  the  girl's 
face.  "  If  you  knew,"  she  said,  with  a  faint  ring  of  sadness 
through  her  voice,  "  you  would  never  think  so  again."  Then 
she  turned,  with  that  bright,  swift  earnestness  which  always 
startled  people  until  they  came  to  know  her  well.  "  Are  you 
always  happy  —  content,  Dr.  Rochford?" 

"I?    O,  no,  certainly  not." 

"  But  in  an  hour  like  this,  when  one  gets  away  from  all  the 
bewilderments  and  confusions  —  above  all,  the  dreadful  affecta- 
tions, of  life,  and  comes  face  to  face  with  the  peace  of  Nature, 
one  cannot  help  wishing  that  such  a  day  and  such  a  mood  would 
last  forever.  That  is  why  I  wished  there  could  be  no  sunset  to 
this  one." 

"  But  you  remember  what  our  poet  says  in  that  psalm  of  his, 
that  it  seems  to  me  must  ring  down  through  all  the  ages,  Avhat- 
ever  other  voices  are  lost  —  that  enjoyment  is  not  the  great  pur- 
pose and  aim  of  life ;  and,  certainly,  if  we  go  seeking  that 
alone,  we  shall  never  find  it." 

"  But  I  do,"  answered  Rusha,  turning  and  sending  her  gaze 
far  out  to  the  sea.  "  Yes,  I  am  sure  that  is,  get  to  the  bot- 
tom of  it,  the  real  dominant  purpose  and  aim  of  my  life,  — 
Enjoyment." 

Here  Tom,  who  happened  to  be  standing  near?  broke  in  with 
—  "What  an  odd  little  freak  that  is,  Rusha,  to  be  always  slan- 
dering yourself!  I  don't  think  it  looked  very  much  like  living 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

for  '  enjoyment '  when  you  gave  us  all  such  a  lecture  at  Saratoga 
for  having  a  good  time  generally  this  summer,  while  the  coun- 
try was  in  the  midst  of  this  war.  You  ought  to.  have  heard  her, 
doctor  ;  I  haven't  got  the  thunder  out  of  my  ears  yet." 

Dr.  Rochford  had  a  smile  of  rare  and  beautiful  expressive- 
ness. He  bent  it  down  now  on  Rusha's  face,  in  a  silent  ap- 
proval, that  gratified  her  in  the  midst  of  her  embarrassment. 

"  Tom,  that  talk  was  intended  solely  for  family  ears,  which 
you  ought  to  have  remembered  before  alluding  to  it  here." 

"  Well,  it  was  a  great  shame  that  the  world  should  lose  the 
benefit  of  it,  anyhow." 

Here  Tom  was  interrupted  by  a  call  from  the  ladies,  who 
wanted  his  assistance  in  securing  some  aquatic  plants  that  had 
drifted  in  with  the  tide  close  to  the  shore,  and  so  the  doctor  and 
Rusha  were  left  alone  there  on  the  sands,  with  the  narrow  white 
broidery  of  surf  rolling  up  close  to  their  feet. 

After  a  moment  the  doctor  spoke  to  his  companion  as  he 
would  not  probably  have  spoken  to  many  young  women.  "  I 
thought  I  was  familiar  with  the  sea  —  with  its  language,  its 
moods,  its  silences  ;  but  this  summer  it  has  some  new  voices  and 
meaning  for  me ;  I  think  we  shall  read  many  things,  even  in 
Nature,  clearer  by  the  red  glare  of  this  civil  war." 

Her  gaze  went  far  out  over  the  waters,  until  it  touched  the 
distant  horizon.  Her  face  wore  that  wistful,  half-childish  look, 
which  was,  perhaps,  its  sweetest,  "  I  do  not  know,"  she  said, 
half  communing  with  herself,  "  that  the  war  has  brought  me  any 
new  revelations  ;  I  have  not  come  near  enough  to  it,  either  my- 
self or  through  any  one  that  I  love." 

"  But  your  country?"  he  said. 

"  O,  yes ;  I  forgot  that.  I  remember,  the  day  papa  came 
home  and  told  us  how  our  flag  had  been  fired  on  at  Fort  Sum- 
ter,  that  latent  love  of  country  which  suddenly  fired  my  whole 
soul  was  a  new  revelation  to  me." 

"  I  suppose  it  was  to  all  our  countrymen  and  women  worthy 
of  the  name.  And  then  that  time  served  to  show  us,  too,  what 
mysteries  we  are  to  ourselves  and  to  one  another." 


132  DARBYLL    GAP,   OB 

"  Everything  is  a  mystery  to  me,"  with  some  doubt  haunting 
her  face  and  voice.  u  The  longer  I  live,  the  less  I  find  of  that 
which  I  love  most." 

"  What  is  tha't?"  asked  Dr.  Rochford. 

"  Realities" 

"  I  understand,  Miss  Darryll,  because  I  have  been  in  that 
same  mood  of  doubt  and  unrest.  It  is  a  dreary  one  enough." 

"  And  you  are  out  of  it  now  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  thank  God  —  yes." 

"  In  what  way  —  by  what  means?  "  her  questions  going,  as 
Rusha  Darryll's  always  did,  straight  to  the  bottom  of  the  thing. 

"  It  would  take  a  long  while  to  tell  you  ;  only,  there  are  a 
few  grand,  central  truths,  in  which,  if  one's  soul  be  thoroughly 
anchored,  whatsoever  else  is  dark,  mysterious,  vague  in  this 
world,  ceases,  in  a  great  measure,  to  harass  and  perplex  one. 
Do  you  believe  this  ?  " 

She  brought  her  gaze  in  from  the  sea.  "  I  don't  know  what 
I  believe,  or  whether  I  believe  anything  at  all,"  she  said,  in  a 
dry,  hard  tone,  that  might  have  deceived  one  who  did  not  know 
what  lay  back  of  it.  "  I  am  all  afloat  in  creed  and  faith,  which 
are  the  deepest  things  of  every  human  life." 

"  I  have  been  through  all  that,"  said  the  doctor  ;  "I  wish  I 
could  help  you." 

She  looked  up  at  him,  touched  by  the  sympathy  in  his  voice, 
with  some  doubt  and  beseeching  pathos  in  her  face,  and  the  sun- 
set threw  down  a  sudden  glory  upon  the  delicate  features  and 
flushed  lips,  and  upon  the  fine  dark  hair,  in  which  the  sea  winds 
were  at  play  ;  and  something  in  the  doctor's  words,  and  in  the 
scene  where  they  stood,  with  the  solemn  pomp  arid  glory  of  the 
sea,  and  laud,  and  sunset,  drew  Rusha  out,  as  in  other  circum- 
stances would  not  have  been  possible. 

"  My  belief,  if  I  have  any,"  she  said,  "  depends  upon  my 
moods ;  and  that  is  not  the  sort  of  religion  I  want,  but  some- 
thing strong,  steadfast,  mightier  than  life  —  something  that  will 
abide  with  me  in  my  happiest  hours  or  my  saddest  —  something 
that  will  strengthen  and  uphold  me  through  every  grief,  and 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  133 

loss,  and  change  of  life,  and  that  will  stay  with  me  when  life 
itself  goes  out." 

"  You  are  right  there,  Miss  Darryll.  Religion  must  be  all 
that  to  each  one  of  us,  or  nothing." 

"But  is  there  any  such  religion?"  she  asked,  with  a  vehe- 
ment earnestness  which  told  how  vital  a  thing  the  question  was 
to  her.  "  I  hate  cant,  hypocrisy,  superficiality  ;  but  above  all 
things  I  loathe  and  abhor  them  most  in  religion,  or  what  people 
call  this,  and  here,  it  seems,  more  than  anywhere  else,  I  find 
them." 

"But  all  the  wrong,  and ' weakness,  and  imperfection,  does 
not  affect  the  vital  question  of  the  reality  —  of  truth,  and  of 
our  need  of  it,"  he  said. 

Again  she  sent  her  wistful  eyes  far  out  to  sea.  "  But  it 
shakes  my  faith  in  it.  It  is  easy  and  pleasant  to  believe  to-day, 
with  all  the  strong  joy  and  grandeur  of  this  scene  about  me, 
that  there  is  a  Father,  all-wise,  tender,  and  loving,  watching 
over  and  caring  for  us  every  moment,  and  it  seems  easy  and 
pleasant,  too,  to  trust  and  love  Him  now.  But  I  know  from  ex- 
perience that  this  will  not  last  —  that  there  will  come  times 
when  all  faith  and  belief  will  forsake  me ;  when  doubts  and 
fears  will  roll  in  upon  me  like  cold,  dulling  mists,  and  I  shall 
go  drifting  about  in  the  dark,  with  no  hope,  no  anchor  for  my 
soul." 

She  was  repeating  here  so  completely  a  phase  of  his  own 
experience,  that  if  Fletcher  Rochford  had  been  describing  it 
himself,  he  would  not  have  found  need  to  alter  a  single  word. 

"  You  will  perceive  that  I  am  better  prepared  to  comprehend 
your  feeling,  Miss  Darryll,  when  I  tell  you  that  it  seems  to  me 
there  is  no  chill  and  gloomy  abyss  of  doubt  and  scepticism  which 
I  have  not  sounded.  I  know  all  the  unutterable  anguish  of  that 
plaint  of  the  soul  when  it  wanders  through  the  thick  darkness, 
'asking  —  Is  there  a  God,  and  where  is  He?" 

She  sent  her  startled  look  up  into  his  face.  She  felt  that  in 
some  sense  his  struggle  had  gone  into  depths  where  hers  could 
not  follow  him. 

12 


134  DARRTLL   OAF,   OR 

"  But  these  things  of  which  you  speak  —  what  removed 
them  ?  "  she  asked,  softly. 

"  They  passed  away  when  I  learned  what  His  love  was  — 
what  it  meant.  That  is  the  one  only  sufficient  answer  to  all 
our  doubts  and  fears,  to  all  wrong,  mistake,  and  grief,"  his 
smile  strong,  joyful,  beautiful. 

There  came  a  sweet  solemnity  over  the  face  of  Rusha  Dar- 
ryll,  as  she  listened ;  then  her  voice  broke  out  again,  in  a  kind 
of  passionateness —  "  But  if  He  is  this  great,  tender,  discerning 
Love  that  you  say,  why  does  He  not  take  pity  upon  all  the 
wrong,  and  grief,  and  anguish,  that  go  on  under  His  eyes?  At 
times  the  sense  of  it,  and  the  pity  I  feel  for  others,  almost  drive 
me  frantic.  Think  of  the  wickedness,  the  oppression,  the  suf- 
fering, and  misery  there  are  in  the  world  !  What  does  it  mean  ? 
Why  does  He  not  help  it,  if  He  has  the  power  and  the  will  ?  " 

"  You  are  asking  the  questions  which  have  tried  sorest  the 
faith,  in  all  ages,  of  those  who  have  believed  in  Him.  We 
cannot  fathom  all  the  counsels  of  our  God.  But  it  will  all  be 
made  right  and  clear  at  last.  The  clouds  lie  dark  betwixt  us 
and  Him,  but  beyond,  He  will  justify  himself.  And  we  need 
not  doubt  that  the  Love  which  has  done  and  suffered  so  much 
for  us,  would  save  us  from  all  unhappiness,  if  it  might  be.  Into 
that  sublime,  central,  precious  truth,  that  He  loved  us  and  gave 
Himself  for  us,  all  doubts,  questioning,  fears  must  be  absorbed." 

Again  Rusha  Darryll's  gaze  went,  mournfully,  far  out  to  sea. 
"  I  wish  I  had  this  religion,"  she  murmured ;  "  I  wish  I  knew 
what  it  was.  But  I  only  see  that  it  is  the  one  great  question  of 
life  —  the  only  thing  that  gives  it  purpose  or  meaning,  and 
without  which  it  is  at  best  a  vague,  empty  shadow,  at  worst  a 
burden  and  a  misery."  And  looking  at  her,  Dr.  Rochford  saw 
the  tears  aslant  on  her  lashes.  A  feeling  of  ineffable  pity  for 
the  struggling,  thirsty,  perplexed  soul  by  his  side,  came  over 
him,  a  great  longing  to  help  and  comfort  her  ;  but  after  all,  One 
only  could  do  that  perfectly. 

"  I  think  this  longing  and  this  knowledge  of  your  need  are 
the  best  prophecy  that  you  shall  find  the  truth  ;  but  it  is  likely 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  135 

to  be  slowly,  through  frequent  paths  of  mistake,  and  uncer- 
tainty, and  fear.  Life  is  a  system  of  development,  and  you 
cannot  expect  in  yourself  or  look  to  others  for  perfect  individual 
illustrations  of  the  power  and  beauty  of  religion.  Cant,  hy- 
pocrisy, inconsistency,  that  terrible  trio  of  stumbling-blocks, 
you  must  always  encounter.  Neither  can  you  look  for  complete 
results  in  a  world  where  everything  is  so  limited  and  fragment- 
ary ;  but  take  broad  outlooks ;  see  what  Christianity  has  ac- 
complished for  the  world ;  see  what,  it  has  wrought  for  the 
nations  Avhere  it  is  more  or  less  a  living,  vitalizing  force,  and 
what  it  has  done  for  your  own  sex.  And  then  I  know  that  one 
soul  enters  far  into  the  spacious  roominess  of  one  message  ia 
the  Bible,  and  that  another  passes  it  by,  entering  at  some  other 
door,  where  are  food  and  shelter ;  but  there  was  a  time  when 
these  words  came  to  me  with  a  wonderful  force  and  depth  of 
meaning  — '  If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine.' " 

He  saw  how  she  hung  upon  his  words.  No  danger  of  her 
thinking  this  man  was  not  sincere  to  the  core  —  that  he  had  not 
lived  what  he  said. 

At  that  moment  voices  among  the  rocks  came  down  to  them, 
the  rest  of  the  party  having  been  absorbed  in  inspecting  and 
assorting  their  varied  plunder  of  land  and  sea.  As  they  were 
making  their  way  to  the  others,  Rusha  turned  back  with  that 
child-like  abruptness  of  hers,  — 

"What  have  I  been  saying  to  you,  Dr.  Eochford?  I  shall 
be  frightened  when  I  remember  it." 

"  If  you  knew  me  better  you  would  never  have  said  that ; " 
and  again  that  smile  of  his,  entering  her  eyes  like  light. 

They  found  the  party  in  a  frolicsome  mood,  which,  though  a 
strong,  was  not  a  jarring  contrast  to  their  late  talk. 

"  Fletcher,"  said  Sicily,  shaking  her  parasol  at  her  brother 
as  he  approached,  "  we  have  entered  into  a  plot  against  your 
liberties  —  so  you  may  as  well  resign  yourself  to  fate." 

"  At  least  let  me  know  what  that  is  to  be?  " 

"  You  are  not  going  home  until  next  week." 


136  DAERTLL    GAP,   OR 

"What  will  become  of  my  patients?" 

"  What  will  become  of  you  if  you  take  neither  rest  nor  rec- 
reation ? "  retorted  Angeline.  "  You  know  you  will  break 
down  if  you  go  on  at  this  rate.  I  put  it  to  your  conscience." 

"  When  you  have,  as  Sicily  says,  plotted  to  deprive  that  of 
all  liberty  in  the  premises.  Ah,  Angeline,  such  talk  does  not 
come  with  a  good  grace  from  you ! " 

The  laugh  was  against  her  this  time ;  but  the  young  lady 
seemed  to  enjoy  it  quite  as  much  as  though  it  had  been  some- 
body else. 

Further  investigation  developed  various  small  aquatic  and 
forest  excursions,  which  had  been  projected  by  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  of  the  house  where  the  Rochfords  were  stopping, 
and  also  an  invitation  from  Lucy  and  Esther  Bacon  to  Berry 
Plains,  of  that  hearty,  informal  character  which  had  pervaded 
the  whole  afternoon,  and  which,  under  other  circumstances, 
would  have  been  impossible  on  either  side. 

The  doctor  was  fairly  forced  into  acquiescence,  insisting, 
however,  that  he  had  been  deprived  of  the  dearest  right  of  an 
American  citizen  —  his  personal  liberty  —  and  that  his  sisters 
had,  without  due  process  of  law,  constituted  themselves  his 
keepers,  an  office  which  they  merrily  affirmed  they  were  willing 
to  hold  the  rest  of  their  days. 

The  invitation  to  Berry  Plains,  backed  by  the  Darrylls,  was 
at  last  accepted,  although  other  engagements  precluded  the 
specification  of  any  afternoon  for  the  visit ;  but  Mrs.  Bacon's 
active  hospitality  was  never  disconcerted  by  any  advent  of 
guests,  either  day  or  night. 

When  these  things  had  been  satisfactorily  arranged,  the  fad- 
ing light  warned  all  parties  that  it  was  time  to  set  about  return- 
ing. That  a  mutually  agreeable  impression  had  been  created, 
was  proved  by  the  comments  of  either  party  as  it  drove  home. 

"Well,  Rusha,"  said  Tom,  urging  along  Farmer  Bacon's 
placid  old  mare,  "  don't  you  think  I  was  right  about  a  real, 
genuine,  through  and  through  lady  ?  " 

"Yes,  I  do,  Tom,"  with  a  great  deal  of  unction.  "She 
did  credit  to  your  perceptions." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  137 

"  I  think  Dr.  Rochford  and  his  sisters  are  perfectly  delightful 
people,"  added  Lucy  and  Esther. 

"  Eeally,  Miss  Darryll  is  extremely  interesting.  I  must  ad- 
mit that  I  was  not  prepared,  even  after  what  you  said,  Fletcher, 
to  find  so  much  in  the  girl  —  a  lady,  too,  without  a  particle  of 
'  mushroom '  about  her." 

"Girls,"  said  the  doctor,  thoughtfully,  as  their  carnage 
entered  the  shadow  of  the  wood,  "  I  think  here  may  be  a  prov- 
idential indication  to  you.  Certainly  your  society  might  be 
wholesome  in  many  ways  to  Miss  Darryll." 

"  What  did  you  and  she  find  to  talk  about  so  long,  down 
there  on  the  sands  ?  "  asked  Angeline,  a  little  archly. 

"  Nothing  to  jest  about,  girls.  But,  as  I  said,  your  society 
and  influence  is  of  the  sort  that  she  needs.  She  has  reached  a 
point  now,  when  higher  social  and  moral  forces,  when  people 
who  occupy  a  different  plane,  and  are  influenced  by  another  set 
of  motives  than  those  which  she  sees  habitually  in  the  persons 
around  her,  will  be  likely  to  have  a  strong  and  lasting  effect." 

"  Don't  you  think  Fletcher  takes  an  unusual  interest  in  Miss 
Darryll?"  whispered  Sicily,  putting  her  lips  under  her  sis- 
ter's hat. 

"  He  always  does,  you  know,  in  anybody  that  he  thinks  he 
can  benefit." 

"  No,  he  doesn't,  by  any  means,  I'm  sorry  to  say,"  leaning 
back  until  his  head  lay  a  moment  in  Angeline's  lap. 

After  the  laugh  which  followed,  Sicily  said,  pulling  his  hair,  — 

"  We  might  have  known  you  would  overhear  us.  You  al- 
ways had  the  ears  of  an  Indian." 

"  They  are  the  equivalent  of  my  short-sightedness,  I  suppose," 
he  answered,  lifting  himself  up  again. 
12* 


138  DAEEYLL   GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

THE  vicinity  of  Berry  Plains  to  the  transient  home  of  the 
Rochfords  afforded  every  facility  to  any  missionary  projects 
which  they  might  entertain  for  the  behoof  of  the  Darrylls.  It 
is  hardly  probable,  however,  notwithstanding  Fletcher's  sugges- 
tion, that  benevolence  was  the  controlling  purpose  \p.  the  minds 
of  any  of  the  party  on  the  afternoon  in  which  they  rode  over  to 
the  Bacon  homestead. 

As  they  drove  into  the  wide  lane  that  bounded  the  orchard 
and  the  rambling  garden  beyond,  voices  rang  through  the  still 
summer  air,  young,  eager,  bright,  with  little  gleeful  interludes 
and  shouts  of  laughter,  which  sounded  so  pleasant  that  they 
stopped  and  listened  for  a  moment. 

It  was  easy  enough,  even  from,  that  distance,  to  distinguish 
tones  and  words,  and  to  define  the  general  position  of  the 
speakers.  They  were  evidently  having  a  high  frolic  over  some 
fruit  gathering,  one  of  the  number  being  mounted  in  a  tree, 
where  he  was  bent  on  fun  of  some  sort,  regardless  of  the  merry 
expostulations  of  the  others.  And  amid  all  the  rest  they  could 
hear  one  voice,  one  laugh,  clear,  full,  and  yet  with  a  sweet 
under-gurgle  in  it,  like  a  child's,  or  like  some  little  brook,  half 
of  whose  waters  have  tripped  up  among  stones,  and  found  their 
way  out  again  —  a  laugh  that  told  its  own  story  of  sweet,  sunny 
deeps  of  nature,  which  nothing  had  soured  and  darkened  yet ; 
there  might  be  other  sides,  not  so  fair  nor  lovely,  but  there  was 
this  one  also. 

The  gentlemen  and  the  ladies  smiled,  listening  to  the  mirth. 
"  I  think,"  suggested  Angeline,  "  it  would  be  as  well  to  drive 
on,  Fletcher.  It  seems  too  bad  to  interfere  with  their  frolic." 

"  We  need  not,  my  dear ;  only  let  them  see  that  we  know 
what  fun  is,  too." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  139 

"  For  my  part,  I  feel  just  like  joining  in  it,"  added  Sicily  ;  and 
probably  the  doctor  did,  as  he  drove  on. 

There  they  were  —  Tom  Darryll  mounted  in  the  highest 
branches  of  a  gnarled  old  peach-tree,  while  on  the  grass  be- 
neath were  scattered  Rusha  and  the  Bacon  girls,  gathering 
the  fruit  which  that  mischievous  youth,  who  had  them  en- 
tirely at  his  mercy,  evidently  enjoyed  dashing  down  at  inter- 
vals in  a  way  that  was  hardly  agreeable  to  unprotected  heads. 
A  picturesque  little  trio  —  even  Rusha  had  her  sun-hat  off,  and 
the  sleeves  of  her  light  muslin  tucked  up,  so  that  wind  and 
sun  could  do  their  best  with  her  complexion,  which  in  truth 
was  considerably  browned  since  her  advent  at  Berry  Plains  ; 
but  this  was  more  than  compensated  for,  by  the  rich  glow  of 
cheek  and  lip,  across  which  the  fine  brown  hair  was  blown. 

"  There,  Tom  !  "  as  another  shower  rattled  down  through  the 
leaves  —  "  I  do  believe  it  was  your  intention  to  break  all  our 
heads,  when  you  proposed  getting  up  into  that  tree ! "  laughed 
Rusha  ;  and  one  of  the  hardest  peaches  thumped  her  forehead. 

"  When  he  comes  down,  Rusha,  which  he  will  have  to  do 
some  time,  we'll  take  our  revenge,"  said  Esther. 

Rusha  made  a  threatening  pantomime,  with  her  doubled  fists, 
to  the  figure,  rocking  in  provoking  indifference  up  there  among 
the  branches,  and  then  —  caught  sight  of  the  carriage  and  its 
occupants. 

Her  position  was  certainly  anything  but  dignified ;  but  she 
seemed  fated  to  come  upon  the  Rochfords  in  unexpected  ways  — 
it  was  too  late  to  hide  herself — she  must  make  the  best  of 
circumstances. 

"  Good  afternoon,  ladies ! "  saluted  the  doctor,  as  he  re- 
moved his  hat,  and  announced  himself  to  the  party. 

Lucy  and  Esther  were  dismayed  into  a  moment's  silence,  and 
so  Rusha  recovered  herself  first. 

"  Good  afternoon  !  "  brushing  the  hair  away  from  her  eyes  ; 
and  before  she  could  say  more,  their  guest  was  amongst  them, 
shaking  hands  with  each  in  that  cordial  way  which  was  sure  to 
set  them  at  their  ease.  "Hullo,  Darryll!  want  any  help  up 
there?" 


140  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

"  I  want  some  down  there,  for  the  girls  have  been  threatening 
my  life  when  I  descend !  "  laughed  Tom,  as  he  hurried  down 
the  tree. 

By  this  time  Rusha  had  made  her  way  to  the  carriage,  a 
little  confusion  and  apology  in  her  face,  which  the  ladies'  greet- 
ing put  to  flight  even  before  the  others  joined  her. 

"  If  you'll  drive  around  to  the  house,  we'll  meet  you  by  the 
time  you  reach  the  front  door,"  proposed  one  of  the  girls. 

To  this  the  doctor  would  by  no  means  consent.  He  affirmed 
that  he  should  immediately  return  with  his  sisters,  unless  they 
were  allowed  to  join  in  finishing  the  peaches  and  the  fun,  and 
the  Misses  Rochford  made  a  point  of  it  before  they  alighted. 

Thus  reenforced,  the  whole  party  returned,  and  the  new 
guests  entered  thoroughly  into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion.  If  the 
Bacon  girls  were  disposed  to  a  little  shyness  at  first,  the  man- 
ner of  the  Rochfords  soon  dispelled  it,  and  the  merriment  suffered 
no  abatement. 

The  doctor  ascended  the  tree  with  Tom,  and  there  was  a 
double  pelting  of  fruit,  until  the  girls  actually  cried  for  mercy, 
and  throughout  all,  lively  jests,  laughter,  raillery,  gave  a  new 
zest  to  the  work  and  play. 

"  I  haven't  seen  you  turn  boy  like  this  for  a  long  time, 
Fletcher,"  laughed  Angeline,  when  the  young  men  descended 
the  tree,  and  they  commenced  a  general  assault  on  the  great 
pile  of  peaches,  whose  ripe  gold  was  streaked  with  the  hot  crim- 
son, which  the  summer's  long  passion  of  kisses  had  left  there. 

"  When  a  man  forgets  how  to  go  back  into  his  boyhood, 
beware  of  him,  Angeline !  You  may  be  sure  something  hard, 
and  dry,  and  selfish  has  crusted  over  his  manhood,"  replied  the 
doctor,  selecting  the  choicest  of  the  fruit,  and  distributing  it 
among  the  ladies. 

"  And  how  is  it  with  woman  ?  "  asked  Sicily,  in  her  bright, 
pert  way. 

"  Of  course,  the  rule  works  both  ways.  A  woman  that  has 
forgotten  her  girlhood,  with  its  freshness,  its  hopes,  its  dreams, 
its  aspirations  —  it  were  better  for  that  woman  if  she  had 
died." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  141 

"  And  its  romps !  "  laughed  Sicily,  and  she  darted  off  like  a 
deer,  sending  back  a  little  defiant  laugh  to  her  brother,  for  she 
had  a  family  renoAvn  for  fleetness. 

The  doctor  could  not  fail  to  accept  this  challenge,  and  started 
after  her.  The  race  was  very  amusing  to  those  who  watched 
it  with  shouts  and  clapping  of  hands,  for  Sicily  had  so  far  the 
advantage  at  the  start  that  she  managed  to  elude  her  brother 
for  some  time,  darting  in  and  out  among  the  apple-trees  of 
the  old  orchard ;  but  at  last  he  caught  and  brought  her  back, 
flushed  and  panting. 

After  this,  matters  progressed  swimmingly.  The  whole  party 
was  in  an  exceptional  mood  of  hilariousness,  such  as  the  day 
and  the  circumstances  inspired ;  and  when  each  was  regaled 
to  the  full,  they  all  had  a  ramble,  with  plenty  of  side  issues  of 
romps  through  the  orchard,  which  wore  its  century  of  summers 
in  a  bounty  of  verdure  and  gnarled,  mossy  trunks,  bounded  by 
a  little  blue  band  of  a  stream,  suggestive  of  rod  and  line  to  the 
young  men.  They  discovered  that  they  had  one  enthusiasm  iu 
common,  and  the  talk  converged  in  a  mutual  agreement  on  a 
fishing  sail  the  next  day. 

Meanwhile,  the  Bacon  sisters  had  slipped  off  to  the  house, 
to  acquaint  its  hospitable  hostess  with  the  new  reenforcemeut 
of  guests  ;  and  so  Rusha  and  the  young  ladies  were  thrown  upon 
each  other's  society — an  opportunity  which  all  parties  seemed 
inclined  to  improve.  The  natures  of  the  three  women  were  too 
earnest  for  a  continual  sparkle.  The  talk  soon  touched  on 
books,  art,  and  a  variety  of  kindred  topics. 

How  Rusha  enjoyed  it !  They  seemed  to  have  many  tastes 
in  common  here.  And  then  she  contrasted  their  fresh,  earnest, 
suggestive  thoughts  with  the  silly  gossip  and  barren  chatter  of 
the  young  girls  who  formed  their  set  at  home.  It  was  Rusha's 
misfortune  that  she  had  not  been  thrown  into  the  society  of 
thoughtful,  cultivated  men  and  women  ;  and  the  Rochfords  were 
quite  a  new  revelation  to  her.  Their  thoughts  entered  hers  like 
light  and  perfume  ;  she  felt  their  finer  atmosphere. 

She  fancied  that  this  was  the  sort  of  life  after  which,  through 


142  DARR7LL   GAP,   OB 

all  its  mistakes  and  defeats,  her  soul  was  constantly  reaching  — 
the  ideal  of  grace,  culture,  earnestness,  which  her  nature  in  its 
best  moments  discerned. 

At  last  the  two  young  men,  having  settled  piscatory  themes 
and  projects,  joined  them,  and  they  went  up  to  the  homestead, 
where  a  beaming  welcome  awaited  them  from  the  hostess. 

They  would  only  give  real  pain  by  declining  her  cordial  invi- 
tation to  supper,  and  having  the  tact  to  perceive  this,  the  Roch- 
fords  accepted  the  hospitality  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was 
offered. 

The  dark,  old-fashioned  parlor,  with  its  cool  curtains  of 
clambering  vines,  brought  a  soberer  mood  to  them  all.  Some- 
thing suggested  the  war  —  a  topic  that  always  brought  a  shadow 
to  Rusha's  face. 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  she  said,  "  that  I  am  haunted  everywhere 
by  the  far-off  echo  of  cannon,  the  rattle  of  musketry,  and  all  the 
dreadful  sounds  of  the  battle-field,  and  if  they  are  drowned,  for 
a  little  while,  in  some  mood  of  fun  and  frolic,  they  come  back 
again  and  seem  to  reproach  me." 

"  That  is  what  I  was  telling  you  this  morning,  Fletcher," 
added  Angeline. 

"And  I  must  tell  Miss  Darryll  what  I  did  you  —  that  no 
battle-field  ever  reproaches  us  for  the  innocent  enjoyment  that 
makes  us  love  our  country  more  and  serve  her  better  when  the 
time  comes." 

"Good!"  exclaimed  Tom.  "I  wish  I'd  thought  of  that 
when  Rush  a  came  down  on  us  at  Saratoga." 

"  But  that  was  not  '  innocent  enjoyment,'  but  expensive  dis- 
sipation, Tom,"  said  his  sister. 

'•  And  there  lies  the  whole  difference,"  added  the  doctor. 
"  The  poor  fellows  down  there  will  not  fight  any  the  worse 
for  their  innocent  songs,  and  jokes,  and  home  stories  in 
camp." 

"  Then  you  really  think,  doctor,  that  a  man  may  laugh,  or 
crack  a  joke  occasionally,  and  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

This   question,    coming    from   Torn,    surprised    Rusha,   for 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  143 

though  the  tones  were  light,  something  in  the  manner  showed 
that  he  was  interested. 

"  Of  course  I  do.  I  believe  that  religion  is  something  that 
dwelling  in  a  man's  heart  shall  make  it  sing  with  gladness  and 
gratitude.  Why,  the  very  winds  play  —  the  grass  under  our 
feet  —  the  flowers  that  smile  amongst  it  —  the  leaves  of  the 
trees  —  the  streams  that  go  singing  to  the  sea  —  the  stars  over- 
head, shine,  and  bloom,  and  leap  with  the  joy  of  life.  And 
God's  voice  speaks  to  us  by  day  and  by  night  through  these, 
His  messengers,  if  we  will  only  listen,  understand,  and  believe.' 

"  But,"  said  Tom,  surprising  Rusha  yet  more  as  he  pursued 
the  subject,  "  you  know  what  a  dreary,  doleful,  long-faced  af- 
fair most  folks  make  of  religion.  The  very  name's  enough  to, 
drive  a  fellow  off." 

"  And  it  is  a  shameful  libel  on  the  thing,  Tom.  I  do  nu* 
deny,  I  most  confidently  assert,  that  as  true  religion  must  softeu 
and  ripen  any  character,  so  it  must  make  one  serious,  eai-iiest, 
thoughtful;  but  gloomy,  stern,  ascetic  —  never;  and  I  cannot 
sufficiently  deplore  or  condemn  the  custom  which  invents  Love 
and  Faith  with  such  unattractive  features.  How  many  of  the 
young  this  false  doctrine  drives  into  wrong  ways  of  belief  and 
practice,  God  only  knows." 

"  I  remember  when  I  was  a  small  chap,  and  went  to  the 
infant  school,  my  teacher  required  me  to  learn,  as  a  punishment 
for  every  little  negligence  or  misdemeanor,  certain  texts  froia 
the  Bible.  To  this  day,  and  probably  for  all  my  life  to  conn;, 
I  cannot  entirely  get  over  the  old,  repulsive  sensation  with  which 
I  used  to  sit  on  the  low,  hard  bench,  and  try  to  hammer  those 
verses  into  my  memory." 

"  The  old  association  wraps  their  beauty  and  tenderness 
partly  away  from  me  in  a  cloud.  I  shall  never  enter  into  their 
sweet  meaning  as  I  otherwise  should.  I  have  been  defrauded 
of  their  wisdom  and  comfort  by  that  mistake  of  the  man  who 
no  doubt  meant  the  very  best  thing." 

Of  an  almost  painfully  susceptible  temperament,  Rusha  had, 
from  a  child,  been  either  terrified  or  depressed  when  her  mother 


144  DARRTLL    GAP,    OR 

talked  of  religion.  Mrs.  Darryll  had,  what  Andrew  very  irrev- 
erently called  a  "  pious  face ; "  and  she  always  assumed  it 
when  she  talked  "  good  "  to  her  children  —  a  face  which  there 
was  no  mistaking  —  a  long-drawn,  solemn,  dreary  countenance, 
which  was  certain  to  drive  them  from  the  room,  if  they  could 
invent  any  excuse  for  getting  away.  But  was  not  this  other, 
the  religion  that  Rusha  wanted,  she  asked  herself —  something 
strengthening  and  sweetening  life  —  something  that  could  enter 
into  its  playfulness  even,  and  give  that  a  fairer  innocence  — 
something  real  and  vital,  imparting  some  deeper  joy  to  her 
gladdest  hours,  touching  her  darkest  ones  with  its  illuminating 
beam  —  something  constant,  changeless,  eternal,  that  should 
stand  her  through  all  loss,  and  bitterness,  and  grief  —  some- 
thing that  should  give  meaning  and  sanctity  to  the  life  that  even 
now  lay  sometimes  so  heavy  and  weary  a  burden  upon  her 
youth  —  something  that  should  touch  with  a  beam  of  eternal 
glory  all  the  duties  and  relations  of  life,  and  soothe,  if  it  might 
not  utterly  banish,  the  dreary  sickness  of  that  feeling  with  which 
her  soul  often  echoed  the  cry,  wailing  down  through  all  the 
long  centuries  of  human  life,  "  Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity  "  ? 

Such  thoughts  as  these  thronged  through  Rusha's  soul,  and 
the  doctor  half  divined  them,  as  she  sat  there  with  her  silent, 
absorbed  face. 

But  at  this  moment,  the  entrance  of  Mrs.  Bacon,  flushed, 
from  her  kitchen,  with  her  spouse  arrayed  for  the  occasion  in 
his  Sunday  broadcloth,  gave  a  new  direction  to  the  conversa- 
tion. 

The  host  at  once  fell  into  a  talk  with  the  doctor,  which  took 
the  conversational  highways,  from  the  weather  to  the  crops, 
and  from  that  to  the  war,  and  the  two  men  were  deep  in  this 
when  supper  was  announced. 

The  long  table  laid  in  the  cool,  old  sitting-room,  with  its 
snowy  linen  and  ancient  blue  china,  certainly  did  credit  to  Mrs. 
Bacon's  remarkable  domestic  faculty.  On  this  occasion  she  had 
almost  surpassed  herself. 

Such  a  bill  of  fare  as  that  table  presented  !     And  the  people 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  145 

who  gathered  around  it  brought  to  light  biscuit,  and  daintily 
browned  chicken,  to  golden  cake,  to  honey,  and  fruits,  and 
cream,  such  appetites  as  mountain  and  sea  air  impart. 

And  when  the  pleasant,  home-like  meal  was  over  at  last, 
Sicily  laughingly  averred  that  her  brother  had  set  an  example 
of  breaking  his  own  dietetic  rules  —  a  fact  which  the  gentleman 
admitted,  but  laid  the  responsibility  at  Mrs.  Bacon's  door.  And 
in  this  mood  they  returned  to  the  parlor,  and  had  what  Rusha 
called  an  "  evening  without  a  flaw." 

The  doctor  discussed  politics  for  a  portion  of  it  with  the 
farmer,  and  then  gave  the  company  some  interesting  passages 
from  a  month's  voyage  which  he  had  once  made  on  the  Nile ; 
and  Angeline  Rochford,  who  had  unconsciously  deepened  the 
impression  that  their  first  interview  had  made  upon  Tom, 
chatted  with  that  youth,  and  Sicily  and  Rusha  had  their  own 
little  quiet  talk,  in  which  the  Bacon  girls  mingled,  although  it 
had  a  tendency  to  get  beyond  their  depth. 

Some  time  during  the  evening,  Mr.  Bacon,  recalling  some 
reminiscence  of  the  past,  turned  suddenly  to  Rusha,  saying, 
"  That  happened  the  year  your  father  took  that  little  grocery 
down  by  the  pond,  Rushy." 

Tom's  eyes  met  hers  —  a  little  amused  smile  flashed  betwixt 
them.  There  were  times  when  such  an  expose  of  family  ante- 
cedents would  certainly  have  embarrassed  Rusha,  but  this  even- 
ing she  was  in  her  highest  mood,  and  she  was  certain,  more- 
over, that  this  disclosure  would  not  weigh  one  feather  with  the 
people  to  whom  it  was  made. 

With  a  quiet  simplicity,  which  had  in  it  no  shadow  of  dis- 
turbance, she  turned  now  to  Sicily  Rochford,  remarking,  in 
explanation,  "  When  we  were  children,  papa  kept  a  small  grocery 
store  in  Mystic,  and  the  Bacons  were  at  that  time  our  nearest 
neighbors  and  friends." 

"  Brought  up  as  she  had  been,"  said  Sicily,  afterwards,  in  com- 
menting on  this  circumstance  to  her  brother  and  sister,  "  there 
was  something  morally  sublime  in  that  speech.     I  wanted  to 
turn  round  and  kiss  her  the  moment  after  she  made  it !  " 
13 


146  DASBYLL    GAP,    OR 

After  the  guests  had  departed  that  evening,  Rusha  and  Tom 
sat  alone  a  little  while. 

"  Tom,"  said  Rusha,  breaking  a  little  silence,  "  these  people 
are  not  like  those  that  make  our  society  at  home  !  " 

"That's  a  fact.  I  told  you  so  the  first  time  I  saw  Miss 
Rochford.  I  know  the  real  article  when  I  meet  it." 

"  Their  whole  life,  thought,  aims,  are  so  different,"  pursued 
Rusha.  "  They  are  not  absorbed  in  dress  nor  display,  nor 
running  after  position,  nor  any  of  those  petty  things  which  are 
the  idols  of  our  set.  It  is  refreshing  to  know  such  people.  I 
have  had  a  glimpse  into  a  higher,  truer  life,  and  it  makes  me 
sick  of  mine." 

Tom's  silence  was  a  kind  of  acquiescence.  Men  and  boys  do 
not  analyze  their  feelings  and  sentiments  as  women  do.  Sud- 
denly he  broke  into  a  laugh  — 

"  What  do  you  'spose  Ella  would  have  done,  Rusha,  when 
the  '  country  grocery  store '  leaked  out  ?  " 

Rusha  joined  in  merrily. 

"  What  would  she,  Tom  !  I  can  imagine  her  look  of  horror ! 
But,  somehow,  I  didn't  mind  the  least  —  I  might,  though,  under 
some  circumstances." 

"  The  Rochfords  wouldn't  think  the  less  of  us  for  any- 
thing of  that  sort,"  proving  that  Tom  had  read  them  wisely. 
"  There  are  people  of  real  good  sense  for  you." 

"  Yes  ;  but,  Tom,  it  isn't  their  good  sense,  nor  their  breed- 
ing, nor  their  cultivation  that  makes  them  just  the  sort  of* 
people  they  are.  It's  something  that  underlies  all  these." 

"  It's  what  the  doctor  meant  this  afternoon  when  he  called  it 
Religion,  I  suppose,  but  I  must  say  it's  a  different  article  from 
any  I  ever  met  with  before  under  that  name." 

"  I  must  say  it  is,  Tom." 

"  Now,  this  kind  of  religion,"  continued  the  young  man, 
"  seems  something  that  needn't  make  one  sour,  or  gloomy,  or 
wretched,  but  better  and  happier  every  way.  I  hate  cant  or 
superstition,  but  I  believe  these  Rochfords  have  got  the  genuine 
stuff." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  147 

"  Tom,  you  mustn't  speak  so  irreverently." 

"  I  don't  mean  to  be  irreverent.  It's  only  a  fellow's  way  of 
talking,  you  know." 

There  was  again  a  little  silence. 

"But,  Tom,"  resumed  Rusha,  "it  is  not  a  slight  thing  to 
attempt  to  improve  one's  character  —  one  must  be  in  earnest  to 
the  very  death,  and  then  won't  succeed  without  God's  help ; 
but  I  think,  after  all,  a  genuine  religion,  as  you  call  it,  is  the 
only  thing  worth  living  for." 

A  conversation  of  this  nature  had  never  before  transpired 
betwixt  the  brother  and  sister. 

If  the  Rochfords  had  at  heart  the  moral  welfare  of  the  Dar- 
ryll  family,  they  surely  had  in  Rusha  and  Tom  its  best  and 
most  susceptible  elements  brought  at  this  time  within  their  in- 
fluence. 

"  I've  been  thinking,"  said  Tom,  after  a  little  pause,  "  that 
a  fellow  of  my  years  ought  to  have  some  object  in  life ;  but 
you  know  there's  so  much  always  going  on  in  the  city,  and  it's 
hard  to  swim  against  the  tide." 

"  I  know,"  certain  from  his  manner  that  something  was 
coming. 

"  But  I've  made  up  my  mind  that  when  I  go  back  I'll  cut 
loose  somehow,  and  set  about  preparing  for  college  in  down- 
right earnest." 

"  O,  Tom,  that  is  glorious  !  I  am  so  glad  to  hear  you  say 
it,"  suiting  the  words  with  a  kiss,  which,  though  not  returned, 
was  evidently  acceptable. 

And  this  decision  to  which  the  youth  had  come,  though  owing 
in  a  large  sense  to  Rusha,  might  still  be  traced  more  or  less  to 
the  indirect  influence  of  the  Rochfords,  although  Tom  was  quite 
unconscious  of  this. 

The  conversation  was  terminated  here  by  the  entrance  of 
some  of  the  Bacon  family. 

During  the  remainder  of  Rusha's  stay  at  Berry  Plains,  she 
only  met  the  Rochfords  briefly;  once  at  a  little  out-of-the- 
way  meeting-house,  where  she  had  insisted  on  going  because 


148  DAHSYLL    GAP,    OR 

there  was  a  stone  wall  that  intervened,  and  she  had  said 
to  Tom.  with  her  usual  enthusiasm  — "  O,  it  will  be  so 
delightful,  Tom,  to  climb  a  stone  wall  in  going  to  church !  " 
a  remark  which  elicited  peals  of  mirth  from  Lucy  and  Esther 
Bacon. 

Tom  and  the  doctor  had  their  sail  together,  which,  so  far  as 
the  fishing  went,  proved  a  decided  success.  Perhaps  the  doc- 
tor availed  himself  of  the  occasion  to  throw  some  other  less 
tangible  bait  into  the  sea  of  his  young  companion's  soul,  deeper 
than  that  vast  one  around  them  which  one  day  should  give  up 
its  dead. 

However  that  might  be,  Tom  reported  to  Ruslia  that  he  had 
had  capital  sport,  and  that  the  doctor  was  a  glorious  fellow ; 
but  when,  on  further  inquiry,  he  repeated  a  part  of  the  talk 
that  had  occupied  them,  she  found  that  it  did  not  all  relate  to 
their  sport. 

The  Rochfords  and  Darrylls  had  only  time  afterwards  for  an 
exchange  of  brief  calls,  in  which  the  young  ladies  pledged  them- 
selves to  renew  the  acquaintance  which  had  had  so  informal  a 
commencement,  Angeline  laughingly  remarking  that  remote- 
ness of  residence  interposed  no  obstacle  to  their  meeting. 

A  day  later  there  came  a  letter  from  Ella,  urging  and  de- 
manding Rusha's  immediate  return.  "The  season  promised 
to  be  unusually  gay,  if  it  was  war  times,  and  she  wanted  to 
consult  Rusha  about  their  wardrobes,  and  a  variety  of  other 
collateral  matters." 

"  What  in  the  world  keeps  you  in  that  dull,  dreary,  out-of- 
the-way  corner  of  the  world,  shut  up  in  an  old  farm-house, 
passes  my  comprehension  !  "  wrote  the  younger  sister ;  and  she 
supplemented  the  burden  of  her  letter  with  various  urgent  mes- 
sages from  her  mother,  which,  being  transmitted  through  Ella's 
medium,  doubtless  lost  nothing-  in  emphasis ;  and  to  set  the 
matter  beyond  all  discussion,  fortified  the  whole  with  a  post- 
script, which  at  the  last  moment  she  obtained  from  her  father 
—  "  "What  are  you  up  to,  Rusha  and  Tom,  off  there  in  Berry 
Plains?  Come  home,  children,  come  home."  A  rapid,  half- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  149 

legible  scrawl  at  the  best,  but  it  was  honored  at  sight  on  'Change 
now-a-days. 

And  it  was  evident  enough  that,  however  they  might  laugh 
about  Rusha's  fine-spun  fancies  and  vagaries,  the  family  always 
felt  the  loss  of  its  strongest  element  in  her  absence. 

Rusha  looked  sad  as  she  folded  up  the  letter.  It  almost 
seemed  to  her  that  she  would  like  to  stay  at  Berry  Plains  for- 
ever. But  she  was  mistaken  here.  When  Nature  should  put 
off  the  pomp  and  glory  of  her  present  mood,  and  she  should  be 
thrown  more  upon  herself  and  her  companions,  that  eager, 
active  soul  of  Rusha's  would  have  hungered  for  larger  life  and 
wider  horizons  than  the  old  farm-house  and  its  kindly  inmates 
afforded. 

Two  days  after  this,  the  old  carryall  stood  at  the  gate  ready 
to  convey  the  Darrylls  to  the  depot.  When  the  time  of  leave- 
taking  came,  Rusha  stood  at  the  door  with  her  wistful  face  and 
the  tears  in  her  eyes. 

"  I've  been  so  happy  here,"  she  said,  "  that  I  dread  to  go 
out  of  this  sweet  calm  into  the  tumult,  and  jar,  and  fever  of 
the  great  city  ;  but  there  is  no  help  for  it." 

And  the  Bacons  —  mother  and  daughters  —  stood  in  the  door 
and  watched  the  old  carryall  over  the  hills,  and  as  long  as  they 
watched  they  saw  the  wistful  face  looking  back. 

And  so  Rusha  went  out  from  Berry  Plains,  and  there  was 
mercifully  hidden  from  her  sight  the  great  fires  of  trial  through 
which  she  would  have  to  pass  in  the  home  that  awaited  her. 
13* 


DARRTLL   GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

"  WELL,  girls,  I  must  say  this  is  a  little  too  much.  Just 
look  at  that  clock  !  " 

One  morning,  some  five  months  after  Rusha's  return  from 
Berry  Plains,  Mrs.  Darryll  saluted  her  daughters  in  this  fashion 
as  they  entered  the  dining-room.  The  little  bronze  clock  on 
the  mantel  afforded  point  and  emphasis  to  the  mother's  objur- 
gatory tones. 

Both  of  the  girls  had  a  tired,  listless  air,  and  Rusha  ex- 
claimed, meanwhile  rubbing  her  eyes,  — 

"  Goodness  !  I  had  no  idea  it  was  so  late." 

"  Well,  what  can  you  expect  when  one  is  out  until  three 
o'clock?  Just  give  me  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  I'll  be  as  good  as 
new ;  "  and  Ella  seated  herself  at  the  table  and  touched  the  bell. 

"  I  wish  I  could  say  as  much,"  replied  Rusha,  taking  the 
next  seat,  "  but  I  always  feel  wretchedly  enough  for  the  whole 
day  after  such  a  grand  party.  The  truth  is,  I'm  not  made  of 
stuff  to  stand  dissipation." 

Rusha  put  the  truth  exactly.  Ella  could  stand  a  whole  cam- 
paign of  late  hours  and  fashionable  dissipations,  while  Rusha, 
though  apparently  in  as  good  health  as  her  sister,  had  that  finer 
nervous  organization  which  could  not  admit  of  heavy  drafts  of 
excitement. 

"  Your  father  was  dreadfully  put  out,"  continued  Mrs.  Dar- 
ryll, as  her  daughters  settled  themselves  to  the  late  breakfast, 
which,  despite  her  reproofs,  she  had  given  orders  should  be 
kept  warm  for  them,  "  because  you  wasn't  down  this  morning. 
You  know  he  always  likes  to  see  you  at  breakfast." 

"  Well,  pa's  turned  into  a  regular  bear  now-a-clays,"  remarked 
the  younger  of  the  sisters,  breaking  a  fresh  roll  of  bread. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  151 

"  Ella,  don't  speak  so  of  your  father,  child,"  responded  her 
mother. 

"  Well,  ma,  you  know  it's  true,  now,  so  there's  no  use  deny- 
ing it.  It's  as  much  as  one's  life  is  worth  to  make  the  slightest 
demand  on  his  pocket." 

John  Darryll's  temper  had  not  improved  with  his  fortunes  ; 
but  simple  justice  to  the  man  must  allow  that  he  had  by  no 
means  reached  the  sanguinary  frame  of  mind  which  his  daugh- 
ter's statement  implied. 

Mrs.  Darryll,  who  always  took  her  husband's  part  to  his 
children,  and  reversed  this  habit  when  they  were  the  subject  of 
complaint  on  his  part,  came  now  to  the  defence  with,  — 

"  Well,  you  ought  to  consider  that  your  father  has  a  great 
deal  on  his  mind  just  now.  His  business  worries  him,  and  gold 
is  going  up  awfully,  and  I  s'pose  the  poor  man  don't  really 
know  how  to  make  both  ends  meet." 

"  Nonsense !  "  said  Ella,  with  a  toss  of  her  head.  "  He 
can't  make  that  go  down  with  me.  He's  making  money  all  the 
time,  and  the  richer  he  gets  the  stingier  he  grows.  Hasn't  he 
had,  with  all  the  rest,  a  Government  contract  lately?  And 
don't  everybody  grow  rich  who  has  Government  contracts,  I'd 
like  to  know  ?  " 

"  More  shame  to  them,  then  !  "  interposed  Rusha,  who  thus 
far  had  brought  no  forces  to  the  discussion. 

"  Well,  now  don't,  Rusha.  for  pity's  sake,  go  into  the  morale 
of  the  thing.  The  fact  is  all  that  concerns  me  ;  and  I  say  it's 
a  perfect  shame  for  pa  to  be  such  a  miser  when  he's  making 
money,  hand  over  fist." 

Whether  Mrs.  Darryll  had  a  little  secret  sympathy  with  her 
daughter,  or  thought  that  she  could  set  up  a  plea  that  would  be 
more  likely  to  avail  in  the  father's  behalf,  she  now  changed  her 
grounds  of  defence. 

"  He's  fretted  a  good  deal  about  Andrew,  too.  They  don't 
seem  to  get  on  well  together,  and  I'm  afraid  matters  will  come 
to  an  open  rupture  betwixt  them  yet." 

"  What  has  gone  wrong  now?"  asked  Rusha. 


152  DARRYLL    GAP,    OB 

"  O,  dear,  I  don't  know.  Everything,  seems  to  me.  Your 
father  complains  that  Andrew's  lazy,  reckless,  extravagant, 
always  off,  throwing  away  his  time  and  money  with  a  set  of 
fast  friends,  when  he  ought  to  be  attending  to  his  business,  and 
that  he  can't  place  the  least  dependence  upon  him." 

"  Pa  always  makes  matters  out  a  great  deal  worse  than  they 
are,  you  know,"  commented  Ella. 

"  I  can't  make  out,  for  my  part,  who  is  to  blame,"  continued 
Mrs.  Darryll.  "  Your  father  comes  down  so  hard  on  Andrew, 
and  if  I  speak  to  the  boy  he  gets  so  excited,  that  I'm  glad  to  let 
both  alone." 

"  I'm  afraid  that  there's  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  what  pa 
says,"  added  Rusha,  looking  serious.  "  I'm  not  satisfied  with 
Andrew's  looks  and  ways.  What  is  the  reason,  I  should  like 
to  know,  that  he  is  never  at  home  now-a-days  ?  And  where 
does  he  spend  his  time  when  he's  off?  " 

"  Boys  must  sow  their  wild  oats,  you  know,"  pleaded  the 
mother,  with  her  habit  of  smoothing  over  everything  that  was 
wrong  in  her  own  family.  "  I  can't  really  believe  Andrew 
would  do  any  harm,  but  he's  got  in  with  those  wild  young  fel- 
lows, and  they  lead  him  off  to  clubs  and  suppers,  and  one 
thing  and  another.  I  do  wish  he'd  make  up  his  mind  to  settle 
down  and  grow  steady." 

"  But  you  know  a  great  city  like  this  is  the  last  place  to  lead 
a  young  man  like  Andrew  to  do  that.  I  suppose,  from  hints 
that  Tom  has  dropped  me,  that  we  women  have  no  idea  of  the 
temptations  which  beset  youth  of  his  age  on  every  side,  and 
home  is  their  best  safeguard,  and  Andrew  seems  to  get  away 
from  that  more  and  more." 

"  Pshaw !  I  don't  believe  Andrew  is  going  into  anything 
worse  than  having  a  good  time,  like  other  young  men  of  his 
age.  Don't  you  croak,  Rusha.  Ma,  I  want  to  tell  you  about 
our  party."  This  was  from  Ella,  whose  habit  was  to  make  an 
abrupt  plunge  from  disagreeable  subjects  into  pleasant  ones. 

"Did  you  have  a  good  time,  girls?"  asked  the  mother,  not 
sorry  to  have  a  topic  supplanted  which  enhanced  a  secret  feeling 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  153 

of  uneasiness,  the  more  it  was  discussed,  while  she  was  always 
alive  to  her  daughters'  social  enjoyments  and  triumphs. 

This  was  a  theme  to  kindle  Ella's  eloquence.  "  O,  mother, 
you  have  no  idea.  It  was  a  perfect  rush  ;  and  such  a  splendid 
affair  !  "  and  she  went  on,  dilating  with  great  fervor  on  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  dresses,  the  costliness  of  the  banquet,  the  flat- 
tering attentions  which  had  overwhelmed  her  and  her  sister ; 
and  the  mother  listened  with  her  pleased  smile  to  the  rhapsody, 
when  in  the  midst  of  it  all  the  front  door  was  banged  sharply 
to,  and  a  moment  after  Andrew  burst  into  the  dining-room. 

"  Why,  you  here,  girls?  "  in  a  tone  that  indicated  no  pleasant 
surprise.  "  I  thought  you'd  be  out  riding  this  morning." 

"  If  you  had  condescended  to  remember  where  we  were  last 
night,  you  probably  would  not  have  been  so  confident  in  that 
agreeable  expectation,"  replied  Ella,  with  a  little  asperity,  not 
exactly  liking  her  brother's  tone. 

I  think  any  keen  reader  of  countenances  would  have  found 
some  change  for  the  worse  in  that  of  Andrew  Darryll  during 
these  last  six  months.  It  was  a  change  not  likely  to  be  appar- 
ent to  his  family,  for  it  had  not  become  the  fixed  habit  of  his 
face.  But  something  of  the  clear,  open  look  was  gone.  There 
was  some  restlessness  in  the  eyes,  and  something  half-defiant, 
half-reckless,  in  his  dominant  expression,  which  his  whole  man- 
ner carried  out.  He  always  sported  a  cane,  always  dressed  in 
the  height  of  the  fashion,  and  affected  a  "  dandified  "  air,  which 
did  not  improve  him. 

"  Well,  '  fast  young  man,'  "  commenced  Ella,  playfully,  a 
moment  later,  "  what's  brought  you  home  at  this  time  of  the 
day  ?  Some  secret,  I  know,  that  you  didn't  intend  Rusha  and  I 
should  share ;  but  you're  too  late  now,  so  there's  no  help,  but 
to  out  with  it." 

Andrew  had  taken  a  chair,  and  was  restlessly  balancing  his 
cane  on  his  forefinger.  He  was  evidently  in  no  mood  for  jokes. 

"  That's  a  fact,"  he  said  ;  "  I  meant  to  get  the  old  lady  when 
you  girls  weren't  round  ;  but  you'd  pump  it  out  of  her  now  — 
so  here  goes.  I  want  some  money,  mother." 


154  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

"  Why,  Andrew  !  "  Mrs.  Darryll  was  taken  completely  by 
surprise  at  this  request,  as  her  daughters  were  also. 

Andrew  rose  up,  striking  his  cane  hard  on  the  floor. 

"  It's  a  fact.  I  must  have  it  right  off,  and  there's  no  use 
mincing  matters." 

"  But  why  don't  you  go  to  your  father  for  it?" 

"  Because  I  haven't  time  to  go  through  with  a  storm  before 
I  can  get  it,  and  because  it  is  my  own  affair,  and  I  don't  choose 
to  have  him  know  anything  about  it." 

"  What  shall  I  do,  girls?"  appealed  the  bewildered  mother 
to  her  daughters. 

"Look  here,  old  lady;  it's  none  of  their  business  —  I  must 
have  the  money  without  delay." 

"  I  think  you  might  at  least  have  the  decency  to  tell  ma  what 
you  intend  to  do  with  it,  before  you  demand  her  money  quite  so 
much  in  the  style  of  a  highwayman,"  spoke  up  Rusha,  her  quick 
temper  roused  at  Andrew's  manner. 

"  You  interfere  if  you  dare,  now,  Rusha  Darryll !  " 

There  was  a  threat  in  his  eyes  that,  for  the  moment,  daunted 
her  —  and  Rusha  Darryll  was  no  coward. 

"How  much  money  have  you  got  —  to  the  last  dollar?" 
This  question  was  addressed  to  his  mother. 

"  I've  only  got  two  hundred  dollars  in  the  world,  and  your 
father  gave  me  that  for  family  expenses,"  in  a  piteous  way. 

"  Two  hundred  dollars !  Confound  the  old  miser  for  cutting 
so  close !  I  want  at  least  double  that.  But  fork  over  what 
you've  got." 

"  Seems  to  me  you  are  carrying  things  with  a  pretty  high 
hand,  Andrew  !  "  said  Mrs.  Darryll,  partially  recovering  herself, 
and  not  moving  from  her  chair. 

"  I  say,  old  woman,  where's  that  money?  I'll  have  it  out  of 
you  by  fair  means  or  foul,  and  if  you  know  what's  good  for 
yourself  you'll  hand  it  over  !  " 

His  look  frightened  his  mpther.  Language  like  this  had 
never  been  addressed  to  her  before.  A  sort  of  coarse  freedom 
obtained  in  the  manner  of  the  young  Darrylls  towards  their 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  155 

parents,  which,  to  finer  natures,  might  savor  of  disrespect,  but 
of  defiance  and  insolence  —  never. 

"  I  believe  the  fellow's  gone  crazy  !  "  said  Ella,  really  pale, 
she  was  so  shocked. 

But  the  poor  mother  was  frightened  now  past  all  self-control. 

"  The  money  is  in  the  box  on  the  table  there.  O,  what  does 
it  mean  that  my  child  should  talk  to  me  like  that ! "  and  she 
burst  into  tears. 

Andrew  seized  the  box  and  tore  out  the  "  greenbacks,"  and 
was  hurrying  out  of  the  room.  But  just  as  he  reached  the  door, 
Rusha  sprang  before  him,  her  whole  face  hot  with  indignation. 

"  Andrew  Darryll,  the  man  who  will  insult  his  mother  and 
frighten  her  into  giving  him  money  in  the  way  you  have  done, 
is  a  coward  and  a  brute  !  " 

He  looked,  for  the  moment,  as  she  stood  there  in  her  courage 
and  scorn,  as  though  he  could  have  knocked  her  down  ;  but  there 
was  something  in  her  eyes  that  quelled  him,  and  partly  brought 
him  to  his  senses. 

"  A  man  that's  desperate  can't  use  soft  words,"  he  muttered, 
and  dashed  by  her. 

When  Rusha  returned,  she  found  her  mother  sobbing,  and 
Ella  trying  to  soothe  her. 

"I  don't  understand  it.  What  does  it  mean?"  asked  the 
younger  of  the  elder  sister. 

"  It  means,  Ella,  that  it's  no  use  to  shut  our  eyes.  I've 
feared  for  a  long  time  that  Andrew  was  going  wrong,  and  now, 
after  what  we  have  witnessed,  there's  no  doubt  of  it.  This 
comes  of  his  clubs  and  carousals,  and  being  away  from  home 
day  and  night  with  a  set  of  fast  young  men,  who  will  drag  him 
down  to  ruin." 

"  But  did  you  see  and  hear  how  he  looked  and  spoke  to  me  — 
his  mother  ?  "  sobbed  Mrs.  Darryll. 

"  Yes,"  penetrating  to  the  core  of  the  matter  much  quicker 
than  her  more  practical  parent  and  sister,  "  I  saw  it  all,  mother, 
and  I  saw,  too,  that  he  had  been  drinking  some,  and  was  des- 
perate. Probably  he  has  borrowed  the  money,  or  — "  She 


156  DAREYLL    GAP,    OB 

stopped  here,  though  she  was  strongly  excited ;  and  words  were 
not  apt  to  frighten  her. 

"Or  what?"  said  Ella. 

"  Or  has  been  gambling." 

"  My  boy,  my  Andrew,  a  drunkard  and  a  gambler ! "  ex- 
claimed Mrs.  Darryll,  with  a  fresh  burst  of  tears. 

"  There  have  been  sons  whose  mothers  loved  and  trusted  them 
as  you  do  yours,  who  have  turned  out  to  be  a  disgrace  and  a 
shame  to  them.  I  don't  want  to. make  you  feel  worse,  mother, 
but  we  ought  to  see  the  danger  that  is  closing  round  Andrew." 

"But  what  can  we  do?"  said  Ella,  who  was  now  really 
alarmed. 

"  I  don't  know  as  anything,  for  he  seems  beyond  the  reach 
of  our  influence.  Father  ought  to  know  this  at  once." 

"  Dear  me,  Rusha,  think  what  an  awful  storm  there  would 
be  !  "  pleaded  the  shrinking  mother. 

"  I  know  it,  ma ;  but  better  a  storm  than  to  have  Andrew 
lost,  soul  and  body." 

It  was  a  singular  fact  that  whatever  they  might  think  of  her 
"  romance,"  they  always  deferred  to  her  penetration,  decision, 
and  good  sense,  in  any  crisis  which  demanded  the  exercise  of 
these  qualities. 

Mrs.  Darryll,  with  her  usual  lack  of  moral  courage,  depre- 
cated so  strongly  a  resort  to  her  husband  regarding  Andrew's 
conduct,  that  Rusha,  knowing  her  father's  rashness  and  growing 
infirmities  of  temper,  felt  there  was  a  good  deal  of  force  in  her 
mother's  reasoning.  His  harshness  might  only  drive  Andrew 
into  worse  courses,  she  reflected ;  and  she  finally  yielded  so  far 
as  to  promise  that  she  would  not  immediately  acquaint  her 
father  with  what  had  transpired. 

"  But  I  still  persist  that  I  very  much,doubt  whether  this  is 
the  wisest  course.  Andrew  needs  some  stronger  force  than  we 
can  bring  to  bear,  to  change  the  whole  tendency  of  his  present 
life.  These  late  suppers  —  these  fast  companions  —  this  absence 
from  home  —  these  carousals,  and  dissipations,  and  general 
recklessness  —  mother,  where  will  they  all  lead  to  ?  "  asked  the 
eldest  daughter,  solemnly. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  157 

And  Mrs.  Dairy  11,  tearful  and  distressed,  hoped  "  Andrew- 
was  only  sowing  his  wild  oats,  and  would  come  out  right  at 
last,"  and  avowed  her  intention  of  giving  that  delinquent  youth 
"  such  a  talking  to  as  he  had  never  had  in  all  his  life  ; "  and  at 
this  moment,  some  calls  that  could  not  be  refused  ended  the 
painful  family  conference. 

Andrew  Dairy  11  next  presented  himself  at  home,  somewhat 
sobered  —  a  little  ashamed,  with  a  very  confused  memory  of  all 
that  had  transpired,  and  a  general  determination  to  "  bully  it  out." 

Rusha,  however,  had  not  such  absolute  faith  in  the  power  of 
her  mother's  "  talk,"  that  she  did  not  lay  hold  of  that  young 
man  with  her  usual  impetuosity,  and  administer  to  him  such 
a  verbal  scathing  as  he  had  never  received  from  the  tongue  of 
any  living  woman. 

As  for  his  preconceived  notion  of  "  bullying  it  out,"  Andrew 
found,  as  he  afterwards  expressed  himself,  that  Rusha  proved 
"  too  much  "  for  him. 

She  cut  him  right  off  when  he  commenced,  with,  — 

"  That  sort  of  talk  may  serve  you  with  your  poor,  shocked, 
frightened  mother,  when  you  burst  into  the  house,  and  in  ways 
a  burglar  would  scorn,  scare  her  into  giving  you  money,  but  it 
won't  do  with  me.  When  I  think,  Andrew  Darryll,  what  lan- 
guage you  used  to  her  this  clay,  it  makes  my  blood  boil.  O,  I 
wish  I  was  a  man,  to  horsewhip  you  as  you  deserve  ! " 

She  looked  as  though  she  could  almost  do  it,  small,  delicate 
woman  as  she  was,  standing  there  with  eyes  and  cheeks  on  fire. 

Andrew  quailed  before  the  spirit  he  had  roused.  She  was  a 
girl,  it  is  true,  but  then  she  had  an  immense  moral  advantage 
on  her  side. 

"  Take  a  fellow's  head  off,  will  you,  for  what  he  said  when 
—  when  he  wasn't  himself.  Don't  believe  it  was  half  as  bad  as 
you  tell  for,  either." 

"  Drunk,  were  you?"     The  tone  was  calmer  now,  but  the 
emphasis  on  the  first  monosyllable  made  him  wince.     "  I'm  glad 
to  know,  on  your  own  confession,  that  you  were  not  sober  when 
you  so  outraged  your  mother  and  sisters." 
14 


158  DAEEYLL   GAP,   OE 

"  Making  it  out  ten  times  worse  than  it  was  !  "  muttered  An- 
drew. "  Twon't  go  down  me." 

He  wished  he  had  taken  some  other  line  of  defence,  when 
Rusha  went  over  the  whole  scene,  compelling  him  to  listen  until 
he  was  really  humbled  and  ashamed. 

"  I'd  no  idea  it  was  so  bad,  Rusha.  The  truth  is,  if  you 
must  have  the  whole,  I'd  got  in  debt,  and  I  didn't  dare  go  to 
the  governor,  and  —  and  the  matter  was  pressing,  and  drove 
me  into  getting  tight,  and  doing  all  the  rest.  On  my  honor,  I 
didn't  know  what  I  was  about." 

The  first  sign  of  repentance  melted  her  anger. 

"  O,  Andrew,  I  guessed  as  much.  "What  are  you  coming 
to  ?  "  her  lips  quivering. 

He  seemed  a  good  deal  touched,  and  went  about  searching 
for  this  excuse  and  that ;  but  they  were  of  the  sort  that  all  wrong 
doers  make,  who  have  not  strength  to  resist  evil,  and  could  not 
satisfy  her. 

"  Do  you  remember,  Andrew,  the  promise  you  made  me  less 
than  a  year  ago,  on  your  sick  bed?  And  here  you  are  now." 

The  memory  seemed  to  touch  him  with  remorse,  but  it  must 
have  been  of  a  transitory  sort,  for  he  still  went  seeking  excuses 
for  himself,  and  affirmed  that  he  was  no  worse  than  the  rest  of 
the  fellows,  and  through  all,  his  brow  did  not  once  wear  the 
clear,  open  look  that  it  used  to. 

"  O,  Andrew,  if  I  knew  what  to  do  —  if  I  could  only  save 
you !  "  she  cried,  half  to  herself,  the  tears  dropping  on  her 
cheeks. 

He  started  a  little,  and  looked  at  her. 

"  Save  me  from  what?" 

"  From  all  the  wrong  and  ruin  into  which  I  see  these  late 
nights,  these  boon  companions,  and  this  general  recklessness, 
will  surely  plunge  you." 

"  I  guess  I  shall  come  out  as  well  as  other  men.  I'm  no 
worse  than  the  rest  of  them,  and  mean  to  look  out.  There, 
don't  cry,  Rusha.  I'll  go  and  make  my  peace  with  the  old  lady. 
I  s'pose  I  was  a  brute,  but,  hang  it,  I  didn't  know  what  I  was 
about ! " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  159 

She  drew  a  long  sigh.  His  manner  did  not  half  satisfy  her  ; 
but  after  all,  he  had  yielded  so  much  that  she  was  afraid  to  pur- 
sue the  matter  further  then,  and  weaken  the  force  of  what  she 
had  already  said.  But  she  would  "  bide  her  time,"  feeling  that 
anything  she  might  say  would  fail  in  her  brother's  present  mood 
to  reach  deeper  than  the  shallows  of  his  nature. 

And  he  went  out  on  his  errand  of  conciliation  with  his  mother, 
feeling  that  this  would  be  an  easier  matter  with  her  than  with 
Rusha ;  but  almost  as  the  door  closed,  it  opened  again,  and 
Andrew  Darryll's  general  impression  of  the  part  Rusha  had 
borne  in  the  affair  concentrated  itself  in  his  "I  say,  Rusha, 
you're  a  brick  !  " 

She  was  too  pained  to  appreciate  this  coarse  flattery,  and 
only  answered,  with  a  little  flicker  of  a  smile. 

The  young  man  did  not,  however,  find  it  quite  so  light  a  mat- 
ter as  he  had  fancied,  to  get  over  his  transgression  with  his 
mother.  Pain  at  the  indignities  which  her  son  had  heaped  upon 
her,  and  alarm  at  her  daughter's  representations,  made  Mrs. 
Darryll  unusually  severe. 

Whether  the  constantly  recurring  "  I  couldn't  believe  that  a 
child  of  mine  would  ever  dare  to  address  me  in  that  way  ! "  was 
likely  to  have  any  lasting  influence,  might  be  questioned.  But 
Andrew  insisted  that  she  ought  to  pay  no  more  regard  to  what 
he  had  said  than  to  the  wind's  blowing,  when  it  had  no  more 
meaning.  As  for  the  drinking  and  the  borrowed  money,  he 
treated  that  lightly,  affirming  that  a  great  many  good  men  had 
done  both,  once  in  their  lives,  and  it  was  hard  to  treat  him  as 
though  he  was  *'  the  greatest  sinner  out,"  for  a  single  offence 
—  arguments  which  had  weight  with  the  fond,  weak  mother. 

Afterwards,  the  young  man  took  with  exemplary  patience  a 
long  lecture,  which  made  up  in  length  what  it  lacked  in  force, 
and  in  the  end,  Mrs.  Darryll  forgave  her  son  in  her  heart,  if 
not  in  words. 


160  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

**  I'VE  about  made  up  my  mind  that  I  shall  take  a  trip  to  Oil 
City,  the  last  of  this  week,"  said  Mr.  Darryll,  settling  himself 
back  in  his  easy  chair,  after  dinner,  the  hour  following  that 
meal  being  usually  his  most  complacent  one,  although  that  gen- 
tleman's humor  had  grown  to  be  a  sensitive  index  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  stock  board. 

"  Why,  father,  what  can  have  put  such  a  notion  into  your 
head?"  interrogated  Mrs.  Darryll,  who  was  never  quite  easy 
at  suggestions  of  leaving  home  on  the  part  of  any  member  of 
the  family. 

"  Well,  the  fact  is,  they  want  me  to  go  into  a  new  company 
that  is  just  being  started,  and  which  promises  to  be  a  good 
thing.  But  I  don't  like  to  come  down  in  a  large  way,  unless 
I'm  certain  of  the  ground  I  stand  on  ;  and  after  thinking  it  all 
over,  I've  about  concluded  that  the  best  thing  is  to  go  on  and 
see  for  myself." 

"  O,  pa,  I  wish  you'd  take  me  along  with  you.  Do  now," 
spoke  up  Rusha's  eager  voice. 

"  Go  to  Oil  City ! "  put  in  Ella,  before  her  father  had  time 
to  reply.  "  Well,  I  must  say,  Rusha,  if  any  fancy  of  yours  could 
surprise  me,  this  last  one  certainly  would.  What  in  the  world 
can  attract  you  there  ?  " 

"  O,  I  should  like  the  new  experience,  and  to  see  real,  gen- 
uine human  nature  with  the  polish  off.  The  whole  thing  would 
be  full  of  fresh  adventure  and  delight  to  me  —  such  a  contrast 
to  our  dead  level,  city  life.  O,  pa,  if  you  only  will  say  I  may 
go!" 

"  I  hope  your  father  hasn't  quite  lost  his  senses  yet,"  inter- 
posed Mrs.  Darryll,  in  that  tone  of  sensible  practicality  which 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

had  so  often  dashed  its  cold  water  on  Rusha's  pretty  enthu- 
siasms. 

"  No,  my  daughter,"  said  her  father,  in  the  softened  voice 
of  which  his  eldest  child  certainly  had  the  largest  benefit ;  and 
it  might  be  that  this  desire  to  accompany  him  on  a  journey  which 
promised  so  much  of  fatigue  and  discomfort,  touched  the  father 
beneath  the  shrewd,  hard  business  man,  for  he  treated  Rusha's 
suggestion  with  neither  the  rebuke  nor  the  ridicule  that  her 
mother  and  sister  had  done. 

"You  have  no  idea  what  you'd  have  to  encounter  on  the 
way  ;  and  then,  when  we  got  there,  what  would  you  do  —  sweep- 
ing round  with  your  fine  dresses  in  the  dirt,  and  grease,  and 
mud,  without  so  much  as  a  sidewalk  in  the  whole  town  ?  " 

"  I  wouldn't  wear  fine  dresses,  pa.  I'd  put  on  bloomer  when 
we  got  beyond  civilization,"  added  Rusha,  more  for  talk  sake 
than  anything  else,  for  she  saw  the  case  was  hopeless. 

"  I've  no  doubt  she  would,"  added  Ella,  with  a  pantomime 
that  said  unutterable  things.  "  Our  Rusha  would  be  just  up  to 
that  very  deed  !  " 

"What  a  mercy  it  is,  then,"  laughed  the  elder  sister,  oil 
whom  the  pantomime  had  not  been  lost,  "  that  you  and  mother 
are  always  around  to  keep  me  in  the  orbit  of  a  proper  young 
lady  ;  else  I  might  fly  off  on  a  tangent  at  any  time  !  " 

"  I  realize  that  fully,"  laughing  too  ;  but  after  all,  there  was 
more  truth  than  jest  in  her  remark. 

Guy  and  Agnes  brought  some  new  forces  to  the  badinage  on 
Rusha,  and  Mr.  Darryll  settled  himself  to  his  paper,  from 
which  he  was  roused  half  an  hour  later  by  the  entrance  of  An- 
drew and  Tom. 

"  Any  letters  after  I  left  the  office,  boys?  " 

"  I  looked  over  the  last  batch  that  came  in,"  answered  An- 
drew, lighting  a  fresh  cigar.  "  Nothing  important,  except  that 
Crawford  has  been  taken  sick,  and  won't  be  up  before  next 
week." 

"And  just  the  time  when  he  can't  be  spared,  for  I've  made 
my  plans  to  go  day  after  to-morrow." 
14* 


162  DABBYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  Can't  the  journey  wait  ?  "  inquired  Andrew,  puffing  at  his 
cigar. 

"  No,  sir.  I've  got  other  irons  in  the  fire.  You'll  have  to 
take  his  place,  Andrew,  and  keep  books,  safe,  and  keys,  while 
I'm  gone." 

"  Confounded  dull  for  a  fellow,"  muttered  Andrew.  "  Keep 
him  tied  tight  from  morning  to  night  at  the  office." 

u  No  help  for  it,  sir,"  said  the  young  man's  father,  decidedly. 
"  Besides,  a  little  taste  of  hard  work  wouldn't  hurt  any  of  you 
boys,  and  I  can't  trust  such  responsibilities  out  of  our  own 
hands,  now  Crawford's  gone." 

Andrew  did  not  demur  further.     He  only  asked,  — 

"  Going  into  some  fresh  speculations,  governor?" 

Something  in  the  name  or  the  tone  did  not  seem  to  please 
John  Darryll.  He  always,  in  his  talk,  both  in  his  family  and 
on  'Change,  pronounced  himself  "  down  "  on  most  of  the  great 
speculating  manias  which  have  been  of  late  like  evil  spirits  en- 
tering into  men's  souls,  and  making  their  last  state  worse  than 
their  first. 

Naturally  cautious  in  all  his  financial  enterprises,  he  had 
been  particularly  severe  on  the  desperate  risks  which  many  of 
the  men  with  whom  he  was  thrown  in  business  relations  con- 
stantly incurred.  The  losses  and  failures  never  escaped  him  ; 
and  he  was  constantly  holding  these  up  to  view  in  the  hope 
that  they  would  prove  beacon  lights  to  the  young  men  when 
they  should  enter  the  field  for  themselves. 

There  had  of  late  been  a  good  deal  of  sharp  discussion  on 
these  very  matters  betwixt  the  father  and  the  eldest  son.  An- 
drew was  always  quoting  instances  against  his  parent  of  men 
who  had  made,  to  use  his  words,  a  "  big  thing  out  of  a  small 
pile,"  and  affirming  that  "  a  fellow,  if  he  only  understood  the 
ropes,  could  turn  his  hundreds  into  thousands  as  easy  as  you 
could  toss  your  hand  up,  sir ;  and  what  was  the  use  of  delving 
and  slaving  all  your  life,  when  a  little  sharpness  would  turn  a 
man  out  a  snug  little  sum  any  time,  so  that  he  could  lie  back 
on  his  oars  the  rest  of  his  days,  and  have  smooth  sailing  as  he 
went  along  ?  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  163 

Talk  of  this  sort  always  irritated  John  Darryll  to  the  highest 
degree.  He  denounced  in  the  strongest  possible  terms  all  such 
financial  operations  as  "  gambling,  fraud,  and  embezzlement," 
and  insisted  that  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  speculations  of 
the  kind  Andrew  quoted  were  sure  to  burst  up,  and  involve 
those  concerned  in  failure  and  ruin  ;  indeed,  he  had  evinced  so 
much  excitability  when  this  topic  was  discussed,  that  Ella,  with 
her  usual  love  of  peace,  had  said  to  her  eldest  brother,  — 

"  Why  can't  you  let  pa  alone  on  these  speculations?  Let 
him  think  what  he  pleases,  and  you  do  the  same,  only  keep  still 
about  it,  for  he'll  be  sure  to  go  off  like  a  bombshell  every  time 
the  subject  is  touched  on.  If  folks  only  could  learn  to  let  disa- 
greeable topics  alone  !  " 

And  it  never  occurred  to  Ella  at  that  time,  any  more  than 
to  the  rest  of  her  family,  that  any  personal  interest  might  lie  at 
the  bottom  of  Andrew's  advocacy  of  these  easy  methods  of 
making  money,  or  that  when  he  did  not  talk,  he  might  act  on 
his  own  views  of  the  matter. 

"  I'm  going  to  see  the  thing  for  myself  before  I  put  my  hands 
in,"  replied  John  Darryll  to  his  son's  question  about  the  object 
of  his  journey  to  Oil  City.  "  If  the  thing  promises  well,  I  may 
do  something  with  it ;  but  they  needn't  throw  out  any  bait,  for 
I  shan't  nibble  ;  I'm  too  old  for  that." 

"  Eames  has  just  made  a  good  thing  out  of  his  last  specula- 
tion in  Erie.  He  put  up  a  margin  —  stock  went  up,  and  he 
just  drew  in  a  haul  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Snug  little  sum 
that ! " 

"  I'd  like  to  do  that  thing,"  said  Guy.  '  "  Cracky  !  " 

"  You  would,  would  you?"  turning  sharply  upon  the  boy. 
"  And  the  chances  would  all  be  that  you'd  lose  every  dollar, 
and  go  to  the  devil  yourself  before  you  got  through  !  " 

"  O,  pa —  now  !  "  interrupted  Mrs.  Darryll,  warningly. 

"  It's  a  fact,"  stoutly  maintained  her  husband.  "  I  tell  you, 
more  young  men  have  been  driven  by  speculation,  than  by  any 
one  thing  in  the  world,  into  all  sorts  of  desperate  crimes,  and 
ended  up  at  last  in  a  felon's  cell.  I  know  all  about  the  way 


164  DAEBTLL    GAP,   OR 

these  things  are  managed,  and  how  easy  it  is  to  draw  a  young 
fellow  in  who  thinks  he  knows  more  and  sees  farther  than  his 
betters.  If  one  of  my  boys,  after  all  I've  said,  should  ever  dis- 
regard my  advice,  and  run  his  neck  into  some  hap-hazard  spec- 
ulation, he  might  go  to  ruin  for  all  I'd  see  him  out  —  that's  all." 

"  Now,  boys,  take  your  father's  advice,  and  keep  clear  of  all 
these  dangerous  places,  if  you  want  to  turn  out  well  in  the 
world,"  said  Mrs.  Darryll  to  her  sons,  in  very  much  the  same 
tone  that  she  used  to  promise  them  "  a  stick  of  candy  if  they 
would  be  good  children,  and  not  make  a  noise." 

"  But  I  say,"  continued  Andrew,  "  all  business  is  specula- 
tion, get  to  the  bottom  of  it.  It's  the  same  thing,  only  one  man 
is  more  cautious  and  shrewd  than  another ;  but  it's  a  race  for 
money  all  the  same,  and  devil  take  the  hindmost.  Each  one  is 
trying  to  get  ahead  of  his  neighbor,  whether  it's  on  the  sly,  or 
all  above  board ;  whether  it's  in  a  government  contract,  or  a 
petroleum  company,  or  a  banking  house,  it's  all  the  same  thing 

—  make  the  most  you  can  out  of  your  man,  whether  he  happens 
to  be  one  individual  or  the  public  in  general." 

"  Is  it  true,  pa,  what  Andrew  says?  "  asked  Rusha. 
"  Well,   yes,   I   suppose   it   is  —  pretty   much.     Of  course 
every  man  must  look  out  to  feather  his  own  nest  in  the  world 

—  I'm  not  talking  against  that ;  but  business  is  one  thing,  and 
reckless  diving  into   all  sorts  of  wild  speculations  is  another. 
The  market  is  full  of  these  just  now,  and  people  are  rushing  in, 
neck  and  heels ;  but  there  will  be  an  awful  bursting  up  one  of 
these  days." 

"  But,  pa,"  said  Rusha,  at  the  bottom  of  whose  thought  lay 
always  the  right  and  wrong  of  any  question,  "  that  way  of 
doing  business  which  you  speak  of  seems  to  me  so  utterly 
selfish  a  one.  Surely  Christianity,  or  the  highest  morality 
'  even,  requires  some  regard  to  the  interests  of  one's  fellow-man, 
even  in  business." 

Andrew  burst  into  a  loud,  disagreeable  laugh. 

"  Now  that  is  too  good,  Rusha.  A  pious  and  moral  busi- 
ness !  Tell  that  to  your  grandmarm  !  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  165 

Guy  joined  in  his  brother's  rather  poor  attempt  at  wit. 

"  Yes,  Rusha,  you  are  green  !  "  said  the  boy  of  sixteen  ;  but 
he  was  extinguished  for  that  time  by  his  sister's  remarking,  in 
her  most  frigid  tones,  that  doubtless  his  years  and  experience 
would  protect  her  from  any  of  the  ill  effects  of  her  verdancy! 

This  was  as  unkind  a  cut  as  Guy,  who,  on  occasions,  affected 
the  disagreeable  smartness  of  boys  of  his  age,  could  well  have 
received,  and  was  another  of  the  lessons  which  all  Rusha's 
family  were  so  slow  in  learning,  that,  notwithstanding  the 
amount  of  badinage  which  she  would  take  good-naturedly, 
there  was  a  point  beyond  which  it  was  not  safe  to  drive  her ; 
and  when  this  was  passed  she  could  always  turn  upon  the 
offender  in  a  way  that  effectually  silenced  him. 

That  Mr.  Darryll's  warnings  had  very  little  effect  upon  his 
eldest  son,  was  proved  by  his  remarking  to  Tom,  as  they  went 
out  together,  that  the  "  governor  was  an  old  fogy,  any  way, 
and  that  he  wasn't  up  so  early  in  the  morning  but  there  was  a 
thing  or  two  in  business  that  he  didn't  know  yet,  and  that  some 
folks  had  cut  their  eye  teeth  in  this  world  besides  John  Dar- 
ryll." 

This  conversation  transpired  about  three  weeks  after  An- 
drew's rupture  with  his  mother  and  sister.  Since  that  had 
been  healed  —  thanks  to  Rusha's  courage  and  spirit  —  nothing 
unusual  had  occurred  on  the  part  of  the  elder  son  and  brother 
to  awaken  the  anxiety  of  his  family.  Rusha,  who  now  observed 
him  pretty  narrowly,  did  not  feel  at  ease  regarding  the  young 
man  ;  yet  she  could  find  no  fresh  cause  to  justify  her  solicitude. 
He  was  still  absent  from  home  much  of  the  time,  and  when 
there,  seemed  absorbed  and  reticent,  with  occasional  rough  ex- 
plosions of  mirth,  which,  it  struck  his  sister,  did  not  have  quite 
a  natural  ring  about  them.  Sometimes,  too,  it  seemed  to  her 
that  she  caught  a  glimpse  of  some  half-dogged,  half-desperate 
expression  on  his  face,  which  came  back  and  haunted  her  after- 
wards, and  yet  was  not  tangible  enough  to  prevent  her  from 
wondering  whether  the  whole  thing  was  not  a  mere  chimera  of 
the  imagination  that  was  always  troubling  her. 


1G6  DAERTLL    GAP,    OR 

It  is  true  that  her  father  grumbled  away  in  the  old  fashion 
about  Andrew's  laziness  and  frequent  absence  from  business ; 
but  John  Darryll's  fault-finding  had  become  chronic  in  his 
family,  and  was  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  only  result 
being  a  sort  of  tacit  understanding  betwixt  all  the  members 
that  "  pa  "  must  be  kept  in  as  good  humor  as  possible,  provided 
this  did  not  cost  too  much  —  a  party,  a  new  bonnet,  or  any- 
thing of  that  sort,  being  always  regarded  as  sufficient  motive, 
by  anybody  but  Rusha,  to  brave  his  displeasure.  " 

During  these  weeks,  too,  the  season  was  unusually  gay,  and 
the  family  much  absorbed  in  social  excitements,  so  that  the 
sisters  saw  comparatively  little  of  their  bi'Others. 

A  feeling  of  deeper  confidence  had,  however,  been  growing 
up  betwixt  Rusha  and  Tom,  since  their  return  from  Berry 
Plains.  Constantly  encouraged  and  stimulated  by  his  sister, 
the  young  man  had  actually  set  about  preparing  for  college,  to 
which  his  father  gave  a  willing  assent ;  and  Tom,  being  a  rich 
man's  son,  with  plenty  of  time  on  his  hands,  and  all  the  temp- 
tations of  a  great  city  to  beguile  him  into  indolence  and  pleas- 
ure-taking, deserved  a  great  deal  of  credit  for  resisting  these 
as  well  as  he  did. 

Naturally  bright  and  intelligent,  as  were  all  the  Darryll  sons 
and  daughters,  Tom  had  still  habits  of  study  to  establish  ;  and 
this  was  a  great  eifort  to  one  who  had  no  aid  from  the  daily 
regimen  of  school  or  college,  but  whose  hours  were  entirely  at 
his  own  disposal. 

Rusha  opened  her  sanctum  to  him,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for 
her  constant  example  and  encouragement,  Tom's  ambition  to- 
wards scholarship  would  long  ago  have  failed  him  before  indo- 
lence and  pleasure,  those  two  lions  that  lie  in  wait  along  all 
paths  of  human  endeavor.  Poor  Tom  battled  with  them  sin- 
gle-handed sometimes,  but  they  never  totally  overcame  him  — 
thanks  to  that  sister  of  his,  to  whom,  though  he  or  she  might 
never  know  it,  he  would,  in  a  large  sense,  owe  whatsoever  his 
future  might  bear  of  strong,  worthy,  successful  manhood. 

Tom's  awakening  interest  in  the  new  world  of  study,  the 


WHETHER  IT  PAW.  167 

kindling  of  all  the  activities  of  his  intellect  before  that  vast  field 
of  knowledge  which  opened  its  mysteries  and  beauties  before 
him,  were  fostered  by  Rusha  in  a  thousand  ways.  They  read 
the  same  books  and  discussed  the  same  themes  together  in  the 
little  retired  sanctum,  that  was  to  her  the  dearest  spot  on  earth. 

And  the  change  that  was  being  gradually  wrought  in  Tom 
Darryll  did  not  end  here,  else  its  work  would  have  been  most 
partial  and  imperfect.  It  went  deeper  than  that,  and  slowly 
assimilated  with  his  whole  character.  His  moral  nature,  was 
quickened  ;  new  questions  stirred  themselves  in  his  soul ;  things 
that  once  never  awakened  a  thought  within  him  began  now  to 
assume  new  relations  to  his  deepening  susceptibilities ;  and 
little  by  little,  and  here  and  there,  his  conscience  grew  more 
sensitive,  and  life  began,  with  much  of  obscurity  and  vagueness, 
to  open  out  before  him  with  some  new,  vast  meanings  and 
responsibilities. 

And  it  was  pleasant  and  touching  to  see  the  young,  eager 
minds  grappling  with  the  great  questions  which  underlie  all 
human  life,  and  which,  once  lost  sight  of,  as  Paul  said,  "  Let  us 
eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die." 

Of  course  Rusha  was  leader  here,  and  Tom  followed  the 
deeper  nature,  the  finer  conscience,  and  forgot,  for  the  time,  "all 
the  little  weaknesses  and  absurdities  that  were  so  natural  to  his 
age  and  experience,  and  became  simple  and  earnest.  And  in 
these  brother-and-sister  talks  how  much  seed  was  dropped  in 
the  clefts  and  deep  places  of  his  soul,  that  should  spring  up 
afterwards  in  noble  aspiration,  and  steadfast  faith,  and  higher 
loyalty,  only  G-od  and  the  good  angels  of  Tom  Darryll  knew. 

Rusha,  too,  was  growing,  without  much  outward  help  and 
with  many  drawbacks  —  growing  so  slowly  that  neither  she  nor 
those  around  her  suspected  it,  among  the  constant  chafings  and 
irritations  of  the  sensitive,  finely-strung  soul,  across  whose 
chords  the  winds  of  life  swept,  making  deep  voices,  sometimes 
of  sweetest  harmonies,  but,  alas  !  oftener  of  saddest  discords. 

The  acquaintance  with  the  Rochfords,  which  had  opened  so 
auspiciously,  had  been  doomed  to  sudden  disappointment.  The 


168  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

doctor  had  gone  to  the  war,  and  Angeline  had  accompanied 
him  as  hospital  nurse.  The  house  was  still  kept  open,  for 
Sicily,  who  had  gone,  meanwhile,  to  reside  with  some  relatives 
in  the  country,  came  down  frequently  to  the  city,  as  she  had 
a  general  charge  of  her  brother's  and  sister's  beneficiaries. 

But  her  visits  were  always  crowded  with  business,  so  that 
Rusha  never  saw  her ;  and  whatsoever  wholesome  influences 
their  society  might  have  exerted,  at  this  time,  on  her  ardent, 
impressible  nature,  was  entirely  lost  to  her,  and  she  had  to 
make  her  own  way  as  best  she  might  out  of  the  mistakes  and 
mischiefs  of  her  early  training,  out  of  false  and  ignoble  views 
of  life,  out  of  all  sorts  of  social  sophistries  ;  and  she  went  on 
blindly,  "stumbling  often,  but  never  content  to  lie  there"  — 
went  on,  not  seeing  the  Hand  that  was  leading  her. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  169 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

"  WHAT  in  thunder  does  this  mean?" 

Adam  Crawford  sat  before  the  iron  safe  in  John  Darryll's 
private  office  one  morning,  somewhat  less  than  a  week  after 
that  gentleman's  departure  for  Oil  City,  when  this  expletive 
dropped  from  his  lips  —  the  strongest  that  any  possible  amaze- 
ment or  horror  could  have  drawn  from  the  man.  For  Adam 
Crawford  was  at  that  moment  in  a  state  of  such  blank  amaze- 
ment and  terror  as  he  had  never  experienced  before  in  his  life. 

He  sat  there  alone  in  Mr.  Darryll's  small,  private  office, 
behind  the  desk,  where  the  great  iron  safe  always  stood,  and  to 
which  nobody  ever  had  access,  except  the  owner  and  the  book- 
keeper, •  unless  the  keys,  in  some  unusual  contingency,  were 
placed,  for  a  short  period,  in  Andrew's  charge.  A  set  of  these 
lay  upon  the  top  of  the  chest ;  the  heavy  door  was  swung  open, 
revealing  the  great  ledgers  and  piles  of  papers  on  one  side,  while 
on  the  other  was  the  vault,  which  now  was  uncovered,  contain- 
ing many  thousands  in  gold  and  greenbacks. 

Some  small  debts  falling  due  on  this  morning,  the  book- 
keeper, in  whom  Mr.  Darryll  reposed  absolute  confidence,  had 
opened  the  vault,  when  his  eyes  ^vere  arrested  by  the  sight  of 
several  empty  bags,  which  he  had  seen  Mr.  Darryll  place  there 
just  before  his  departure  for  Oil  City,  remarking  that  he  should 
probably  use  them  in  a  new  investment  on  his  return. 

Each  one  of  the  bags  had  contained  five  thousand  dollars  in 
gold.  Adam  Crawford  lifted  up  one  and  then  another  of  these 
—  it  was  empty,  and  dropped  away  from  his  nerveless  hands, 
for  the  strong  man  was  weak  as  a  little  child. 

Mr.  Darryll  had  selected  his  book-keeper -from  a  host  of  ap- 
plicants on  account  of  his  "  honest  face,"  and  the  man  was  a 
15 


170  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

shrewd  reader  of  countenances.  Adam's  would  have  borne  wit- 
ness for  him  anywhere  —  an  honest,  open,  manly  face,  whose 
character  compensated  for  its  rather  marked  homeliness,  but  to 
be  trusted,  his  employer  averred,  to  the  antipodes  with  un- 
counted gold. 

Andrew  Darryll  sat  at  the  desk  that  morning,  writing,  with 
somewhat  unusual  diligence  ;  for,  as  he  told  one  of  his  friends, 
who  stopped  in  to  invite  him  to  a  ride  on  the  Bloomingdale 
Road,  "the  old  man  was  expected  back  in  a  day  or  two,  and 
there'd  be  a  regular  blow  up,  if  he  didn't  put  matters  through 
before  that  time." 

So,  although  he  had  not  seen  the  inside  of  the  office  for  two 
previous  days,  he  was  apparently  absorbed  in  his  work  when 
the  book-keeper  came  to  the  outside  door  and  spoke  with  a 
white  face,  — 

"  Darryll,  I  say,  we've  been  robbed  !  " 

The  voice  was  not  loud.  Andrew  kept  on  at  his  writing. 
You  could  hear  the  rapid  scratch  of  his  pen  in  the  stillness. 
It  seemed  strange  that  the  tones  did  not  reach  him. 

"Darryll,"  the  key  a  little  raised,  "  see  here  —  we've  been 
robbed ! " 

Andrew  turned  round  sharply. 

" "What's  that  you  say,  Crawford?" 

"  The  gold  in  the  safe  vault  has  gone  !  " 

What  Andrew  said  here,  or  whether  he  said  anything  at  all, 
Adam  Crawford  could  never  recollect,  although  he  afterwards 
tried  many  times.  But  he  "remembered  that  they  both  re- 
turned to  the  safe,  and  Adam  pointed  to  the  empty  bags,  and 
they  two  counted  them  over.  There  were  four  whose  entire 
contents  had  been  abstracted.  The  others  lay  undisturbed. 
Then  the  two  young  men  looked  at  each  other,  face  to  face, 
eye  to  eye. 

"  There  were  five  thousand  dollars  in  each  of  those  bags.  I 
heard  your  father  say  so  the  day  that  he  placed  them  there," 
said  Crawford. 

"Yes,  here  is  the  mark,"  replied  Andrew,  turning  the  side 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  171 

of  the  bag  towards  him.  Then  the  young  men  looked  at  each 
other  again,  face  to  face,  eye  to  eye. 

"  Who  do  you  suspect  is  at  the  bottom  of  this  business, 
Crawford?"  asked  Andrew. 

"  I  can  think  of  no  man  —  God  is  my  witness —  of  no  living 
man !  Can  you  ? "  watching  young  Darryll's  face  in  a  kind 
of  vague  hope  of  some  clew. 

"  Not  one." 

"  But  we  must  ferret  out  the  villain  who  has  done  this." 

"  Yes,  Crawford,"  said  Andrew,  "  that  is  the  first  step  —  we 
must  ferret  him  out ; "  then,  after  a  little  pause,  "  You've  had 
the  keys  about  you  ever  since  you  got  back  ?  " 

"  Night  and  day;  except  the  one  that  I  gave  them  to  you, 
when  I  went  out  of  town  —  you  remember?" 

"Yes,  the  money  was  all  safe  then,  for  I  came  here  in  the 
morning,  and  placed  this  package  of  greenbacks  in  the  vault. 
The  safe  must  have  been  broken  into  after  that." 

"  But  how  was  it  done,  Darryll?  if  we  could  only  get  on  the 
scoundrel's  track ! " 

And  Adam  Crawford  remembered  afterwards  how  many 
improbabilities  they  started  —  how  they  discussed  one  person 
and  then  another,  but  never  found  a  single  individual  or  cir- 
cumstance on  which  there  was  the  slightest  ground  for  basing  a 
suspicion  of  the  crime. 

Andrew,  however,  maintained  the  opinion  that  some  ex- 
perienced burglar  had  watched  the  building,  and  broken  into 
that  and  the. safe  at  night;  indeed,  it  was  impossible  that  any 
but  a  most  skilful  robber  could  have  opened  the  vault,  whose 
lock,  like  that  of  the  outer  safe  door,  it  seemed  must  havs 
baffled  any  degree  of  ingenuity  on  the  part  of  one  who  attempted 
to  pick  it. 

Then  the  young  men  examined  all  the  doors  and  window 
fastenings ;  but  there  was  not  the  faintest  trace  of  disturbance 
among  all  these.  Then  they  came  back  again,  and  sat  down 
before  the  open  safe,  and  decided  that  the  only  thing  to  do  was 
to  put  the  matter  into  the  hands  of  some  shrewd  detectives,  and 
await  Mr.  Darryll's  return. 


172  DARBTLL    OAF,    OB 

"But  I  dread  to  see  the  man's  face,"  said  Adam  Crawford. 

"  So  do  I.  Won't  there  be  a  storm,  though  ! "  and  the  book- 
keeper remembered  that  as  Andrew  said  this,  he  shuddered ; 
but  that  did  not  surprise  him  at  the  time,  for  he  was  half  be- 
wildered himself  with  the  shock  which  the  sudden  discovery  of 
the  crime  had  occasioned  him,  and  just  as  Andrew  Darryll 
ceased  speaking,  his  father  walked  in.  Something  in  the  faces 
of  both  the  young  men  struck  him  at  once. 

"What  has  happened?"  he  asked,  stopping  short. 

The  son  and  the  book-keeper  each  waited  a  moment  for  the 
other  to  reply.  Then  Andrew  spoke  :  — 

"  Father,  the  safe  has  been  opened,  and  you've  been  robbed 
of  twenty  thousand  dollars  !  " 

For  the  next  week  the  robbery,  whose  consummate  skill  and 
secrecy  seemed  to  set  all  discovery  at  defiance,  was  the  engross- 
ing topic  in  the  Darryll  family. 

Of  course  it  got  into  the  papers,  and  a  large  reward  was 
offered  for  the  perpetrators.  All  the  people  who  called,  talked 
over  the  details,  with  that  relish  for  the  secret  and  horrible 
which  seems  to  inhere  in  our  common  human  nature.  Mr. 
Darryll  never  returned  home  without  being  assailed  by  the  fem- 
inine portion  of  the  family  with  inquiries  as  to  whether  they  had 
yet  got  any  clew  to  the  criminals.  Indeed,  betwixt  their  indig- 
nation and  curiosity,  the  Darrylls,  especially  the  younger  ones, 
could  never  let  the  subject  rest ;  and  all  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  robbery,  which,  beyond  the  fact  itself,  were  of 
the  most  bai'ren  character,  were  discussed  at  every  meal,  as 
though  the  whole  thing  was  entirely  new  to  each  person. 

The  loss  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  did  not  in  reality  affect 
John  Darryll,  although  one  might  have  thought,  to  hear  the 
man  talk,  that  it  came  very  near  ruining  him  —  an  insinuation 
that  Andrew  always  repelled  with  contempt,  affirming  that  the 
governor  often  made  more  than  that  in  a  single  day's  operation. 

Still,  beyond  the  loss  of  the  money,  the  manner  of  its  disap- 
pearance was  one  that  gave  the  prosperous  broker  a  good  many 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  173 

sleepless  nights.  He  racked  his  brain  trying  to  find  some 
individual  on  whom  he  could  fasten  a  suspicion  ;  but  the  more 
he  contemplated  the  matter,  the  more  inexplicable  it  became. 

The  best  detectives  in  the  city  had  been  on  the  scent  a  week, 
without  starting  the  slightest  trail  of  the  thief —  it  seemed  im- 
possible that  any  one  unacquainted  with  the  rooms  could  have 
broken  into  them  and  the  safe,  and  left  no  trace  of  their  en- 
trance in  door,  or  window,  or  lock ;  and  during  the  three  days 
in  which  it  had  been  satisfactorily  determined  that  the  crime 
had  been  committed,  the  keys  of  safe  and  vault  had  been  alter- 
nately in  the  possession  of  Andrew  and  the  book-keeper. 

At  one  time,  for  want  of  some  better  subject,  a  strong  sus- 
picion had  attached  to  the  office-boy,  who  swept  the  rooms  and 
kept  the  fires  —  a  little,  dark,  open-faced  lad,  whose  mother  was 
a  widow,  an  honest,  hard-toiling  woman,  driven  nearly  to  frenzy 
by  the  suggestion  that  her  son  was  concerned  in  the  crime. 
But  after  the  boy  had  borne  the  rigid  examination  to  which  he 
was  subjected  by  the  detectives,  they  both,  at  the  close,  acquitted 
him  of  the  slightest  complicity  in,  or  knowledge  of,  the  crime. 

"  The  fellow  that  got  into  that  vault  must  have  been  a  con- 
founded sharp  rascal !  Beats  everything  hollow  that  I  ever 
heard  of  in  that  line,"  said  Mr.  Darryll,  as  he  stood  one  morn- 
ing by  the  grate-fire  after  breakfast,  with  his  hat  in  his  hand, 
ready  to  start  down  town.  "  There's  Thorp,  now,  one  of  the 
smartest  hands  in  the  city  to  run  a  thief  down  —  I  was  talking 
with  him  last  night,  and  he  says  he  never  knew  a  job  done  up 
quite  so  smooth  as  this  one  was.  How  the  rascal- got  into  the 
office  and  picked  that  safe,  as  well  as  I  could  have  done  it  my- 
self, locked  up  everything  just  as  he  found  it,  and  went  off,  baffles 
me.  Thieves  don't  usually  work  in  that  way." 

"  The  rogue  was  probably  used  to  it,"  remarked  Andrew, 
drawing  on  his  gloves. 

"But  burglars  don't  usually  take  all  that  pains.  Thorp  in- 
sists that  the  scoundrel  was  thoroughly  versed  in  the  premises." 

"  Pa,  now,"  said  Ella,  more  for  the  sake  of  saying  something 
than  because  she  entertained  any  real  suspicions  of  him, — for 
15* 


174  DARRTLL   GAP,   OR 

the  whole  family  indulged  in  all  sorts  of  chimerical  fancies,  and 
some  of  their  absurd  suggestions  would  have  done  credit  to  the 
wildest  flights  of  a  sensation  novelist,  —  "  you  don't  really  sup- 
pose Crawford  could  have  done  it,  do  you  ?  " 

"  Nonsense  !  "  muttered  Andrew. 

"  No,  child,  no.  I'd  stake  my  life  on  that  fellow's  honesty. 
Why,  I'd  sooner  believe  I  got  up  myself  in  a  nightmare,  and 
took  the  money  out  and  threw  it  in  the  sea.  That's  a  comfort- 
able way  of  accounting  for  it  at  least." 

"  I  guess  you  must  have  taken  it,  Andrew ! "  said  Agnes, 
with  her  girlish  titter,  turning  on  her  brother.  "  You  had  all 
the  keys,  you  know,  so  it  would  have  been  very  easy ;  and  if 
Crawford  didn't  steal  the  money,  why,  of  course  you  did  !  " 

"  I  never  thought  of  that,"  said  Ella,  who  always  was  ready 
for  a  jest.  "  Come,  now,  old  fellow,  just  own  up  that  you 
did  it ! " 

"  Not  quite  ready  for  that  yet !  "  answered  Andrew,  and  he 
laughed  out  loudly.  Afterwards  they  all  remembered  that 
laugh,  though  at  the  time  nobody  thought  anything  of  it." 

"  I  never  thought  much  about  a  thief  before,"  —  it  was 
Uiislia  speaking  now,  —  "  but  somehow  I  cannot  help  feeling  a 
perpetual  curiosity  about  this  one.  I  suppose  it  is  because  no 
crime  ever  came  quite  so  near  home  to  me  before." 

"  It's  come  home  to  my  pocket,"  interrupted  her  father. 
"  Zounds  !  I  wish  I  could  get  hold  of  the  scoundrel !  " 

"  And  it's  come  home  to  my  wardrobe,  too,  for  ma  says,  now 
you've  met  with  such  a  loss,  I  must  go  without  the  new  velvet 
cloak  she  promised  me  this  winter.  But,  indignant  as  I  am, 
I  can't  help  wondering  what  sort  of  a  man  this  thief  was ! 
"Was  he  old  and  hardened  in  sin,  or  was  he  young,  and  was 
this  his  first  crime,  committed  under  some  dreadful  stress  of 
temptation?  Had  he  a  pleasant  home,  and  a  father  and  mother, 
and  brothers  and  sisters,  who  loved  and  trusted  him,  and  who 
have  not  to  this  day  the  slightest  suspicion  of  his  crime,  and  to 
whom  the  knowledge  of  it  would  come  down  with  just  that 
awful,  crushing  blow  that  it  would  on  all  of  us,  if  one  of  our 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  175 

boys  had  done  such  a  thing?  It's  singular,  but  I  wake  up 
sometimes  in  the  night,  and  these  questions  rise  up  and  haunt 
me  until  it's  hard  to  go  to  sleep  again." 

Rusha's  speech  was  addressed  to  no  one  in  particular,  but 
looking  up  suddenly  at  its  close,  her  eyes  encountered  Andrew's. 
His  dropped  in  a  moment,  but  not  until  she  had  seen  something 
in  them  —  was  it  remorse,  or  shame,  or  anguish?  —  something 
which  she  unconsciously  felt  at  the  time,  but  did  not  understand 
until  afterwards. 

"  That's  all  moonshine,  Rusha,"  said  her  father,  a  little 
roughly.  "  The  rascal  doesn't  deserve  any  pity,  and  won't  get 
any  if  he  falls  into  my  hands  —  that's  settled.  If  we  can  once 
get  hold  of  him,  he's  booked  for  the  penitentiary  for  pretty  much 
all  the  rest  of  his  days.  That's  the  way  to  serve  these  fellows." 

"  I  don't  dispute  it,  pa  ;  only  those  words  keep  coming  into  my 
thoughts,  '  No  man  liveth  to  himself; '  and  it  is  a  law  of  all  hu- 
man life  that  the  innocent  shall  suffer  for  the  guilty.  It  is  likely 
that  this  wretch,  too,  has  somebody  that  loves  him  —  somebody  to 
be  crushed  and  heart-broken  for  his  crime !  "  and  again  looking 
up,  Rusha's  eyes  encountered  Andrew's,  and  again  his  dropped. 

"  Stuff  and  nonsense,"  said  her  father.  "  The  upshot  of  it 
is,  if  the  villain 's  got  any  family,  they're  probably  hardened 
cases,  and  leagued  with  him  in  his  crimes ;  so  all  that  pity  is 
wasted.  The  only  way  is  to  put  these  fellows  right  straight 
through,  which  I  shall,  in  this  case,  only  let  me  have  a  chance 
at  him.  But  this  won't  do  for  me  !  "  glancing  at  his  watch, 
and  starting  off,  followed  a  little  later  by  his  eldest  and  youngest 
sons. 

It  happened,  that  very  morning,  that  Thorp,  the  detective,  who 
had  thus  far  been  unsuccessful  in  getting  hold  of  any  clew  to  the 
robbery,  was  on  Wall  Street,  and  came  suddenly  upon  an  old 
friend,  a  former  chief  of  police,  and  a  man  who  seemed  to  have 
an  almost  miraculous  gift  of  tracing  a  crime  up  to  its  source. 
A  long  experience  in  the  service  had  made  him  a  singularly 
acute  reader  of  men,  and  once  given  the  smallest  clew  of  char- 
acter or  circumstance,  he  would  follow  up  and  uncover  the 
most  complicated  and  thoroughly  devised  plot  of  villany. 


176  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

Possessed  of  consummate  self-coiitrol  of  countenance  and 
manner,  capable  of  assuming,  for  the  occasion,  any  character 
that  he  chose,  understanding  the  forms  of  temptation  which 
appealed  strongest  to  the  weaknesses  of  different  classes  of  men, 
and  combining  all  these  qualities  with  a  silent,  but  alert  obser- 
vation that  seemed  almost  supernatural,  it  was  not  singular 
that  the  criminal  seldom  escaped  on  whose  path  officer  Hatch 
was  started. 

The  policeman  had  just  returned  from  the  West,  where  he  had 
succeeded  in  unravelling  a  peculiarly  adroit  and  successful  piece 
of  villany,  in  the  discovery  of  which  all  his  predecessors  had  failed. 

As  the  two  detectives  stood  talking  together  on  Wall  Street, 
Mr.  Darryll  happened  to  pass  by,  and  he  paused  to  inquire  of 
Thorp  whether  he  had  struck  any  trail  yet,  and,  receiving  a 
reply  in  the  negative,  hurried  away. 

The  sight  of  the  broker  suggested  Thorp's  next  remark  — 
"  That's  a  troublesome  piece  of  business  I've  got  on  hand  just 
now,  and  thus  far  it's  completely  baffled  me.  I  wonder  what 
you'd  make  of  it,  Hatch  ?  " 

"  What  kind  of  work  was  it?  "  asked  the  other. 

"  A  twenty  thousand  dollar  business.  Office  entered,  iron 
safe  broken  open,  and  money  abstracted,  all  in  the  neatest, 
completest  way,  sir  —  not  a  pane  broken  or  a  lock  disturbed." 

"  And  you  haven't  got  on  the  scent  yet?  " 

"  Not  after  a  week's  hanging  round.  A  singularly  'cute 
piece  of  work  ;  "  and  the  detective  briefly  sketched  the  facts  of 
the  burglary. 

"  Burglars  don't  do  up  business  in  that  smooth  fashion,"  re- 
marked Hatch,  when  the  other  was  through.  "  And  why  not 
help  himself  to  the  whole  pile,  when  he  had  such  a  chance  ?  " 

"  That's  precisely  the  point  I  don't  understand.  Altogether 
a  singular  affair,"  replied  Thorp. 

His  companion  went  over  rapidly  in  his  mind  the  principal 
points  of  the  case.  "Broker  absent  —  two  sets  of  keys,  in 
possession  of  son  and  book-keeper  —  office-boy." 

"  Look  here,  Hatch,"  said  Thorp,  as  a  bright  idea  struck  him, 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  177 

"  if  you've  no  special  business  on  hand,  s'pose  you  step  into  the 
office  a  moment,  and  see  if  you  can  find  an  end  to  the  rope  ?  " 

The  policeman  assented,  and  they  walked  into  the  office, 
where  the  safe  was  shown,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  rob- 
bery related  again  by  John  Darryll  himself. 

A  few  glances  of  Hatch,  apparently  careless  ones,  took  in  the 
book-keeper,  from  the  hair  of  his  head  to  the  toe  of  his  boot, 
and  in  these  the  detective  had  settled  in  his  own  mind  that  who- 
ever had  robbed  that  safe,  Adam  Crawford  Avas  not  the  man. 
The  office-boy  underwent  the  same  silent  interrogation,  with  a 
like  result ;  and  while  the  three  men  stood  talking  together  by 
the  safe,  in  the  inner  room,  Andrew  Darryll  walked  in.  He 
nodded  pleasantly  to  Thorp,  with  whom  he  had  frequently  talked 
over  all  the  details  of  the  robbery,  and  after  some  slight  busi- 
ness with  the  book-keeper,  joined  the  men  a  moment,  and  Hatch 
stood  quietly  watching  the  young  man,  conversing,  meanwhile, 
in  a  way  that  would  not  have  attracted  anybody's  attention,  but 
with  a  keen  scrutiny  that  took  in  every  line  and  shade  of  expres- 
sion on  young  Darryll's  face. 

"  The  thing  was  well  done  —  we'll  have  to  concede  that," 
said  detective  Thorp.  "But  that  safe  was  not  picked  by  a 
common  house-thief,  for  one  of  that  sort  would  have  helped  him- 
self to  the  whole  pile,  and  not  been  so  careful  to  smooth  over 
all  his  tracks.  A  new  hand  at  the  trade,  probably." 

"  I  took  it  for  an  old  one  ;  the  thing  was  done  so  nicely,"  said 
Andrew,  with  a  light  laugh  ;  but  detective  Hatch  caught  some- 
thing in  it  nobody  else  did.  He  spoke  now  :  — 

"  Perhaps  the  fellow  had  got  into  a  fix,  and  made  some  spec- 
ulation, or  something  of  that  sort,  and  wahted  twenty  thousand 
to  help  him  out  of  it." 

He  was  apparently  speaking  to  the  elder  Darryll,  but  the 
whole  power  of  his  covert  gaze  was  bent  on  the  younger's  face. 
He  saw  a  light  start,  a  little  shadow  of  pallor  there,  and  the 
whole  thing  lay  bare  to  Morgan  Hatch ! 

"Well,"  said  Thorp  to  his  companion,  as  they  went  out, 
"  struck  the  track  in  there  ?  " 

"  Yes." 


178  DARRTLL   GAP,   OR 

Thorp  darted  an  amazed  glance  into  his  companion's  face  ; 
but  that  countenance  was  used  to  reticence.  "  Not  that  book- 
keeper ?  "  he  said. 

"  No." 

Then  in  a  moment  it  flashed  across  Thorp  whom  his  compan- 
ion meant.  The  surprise  was  so  sudden  that  he  stood  still  a 
moment;  but  as  soon  as  he  had  leaped  to  this  conclusion,  the 
detective  saw,  with  the  quick  discernment  of  one  used  to  these 
things,  how  all  the  parts  fitted  into  one  another,  and  explained 
the  unusual  circumstances  which  had  puzzled  him  whenever 
he  turned  the  crime  over  in  his  thought.  "  Hatch,  you're  a 
stunner  !  "  hitting  his  companion  a  smart  blow  on  the  shoulder. 
Then,  after  a  moment's  pause,  "  But  to  find  out  the  motive  — 
that's  the  next  step,  you  know." 

"  Clear  enough,"  said  Hatch.  "  This  one  was  just  the  sort 
of  material  to  get  his  neck  into  trouble.  Rich  man's  son  'round 
town  —  fast  —  keeps  horses  —  gets  into  bad  company  of  men 
and  women  —  all  sorts  of  extravagance  and  dissipation  —  falls 
into  debt  —  runs  into  speculation  to  help  him  out  of  it  —  prom- 
ises large,  but  don't  pay  at  first  —  goes  into  the  gambling  deeper 
—  needs  more  money,  and  at  last  gets  desperate  —  keys  in  his 
possession  —  easy  enough  to  abstract  the  money — hopes  to  pay 
it  before  it's  missed  ;  and  there  you  have  the  whole  thing.  I've 
had  so  many  such  cases  to  deal  with,  that  I  can  read  them  like 
a  book." 

"  I've  dealt  with  scores  of  'em,"  said  Thorp,  "  but  somehow 
this  one  threw  dust  in  my  eyes.  I've  got  the  end  of  the  rope 
now,  —  thanks  to  you,  Hatch,  —  be  a  thunderbolt  to  the  old 
man,  though  !" 

"Serves  these  rich  men  right!"  said  Hatch,  decidedly  — 
"  ought  to  keep  a  sharp  look  out  for  their  sons,  and  not  leave 
them  to  run  into  the  fire." 

"  Well,  I  shall  see  this  job  through  now,"  said  Thorp.  "  My 
young  gentleman  little  thinks  what  a  storm  is  brewing  for  him  ! " 
and  the  two  men  parted  at  the  corner  of  Broadway. 

Less  than  a  week  after  this,  Mr.  Darryll  met  the  detective  on 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  179 

the  street.     "  I've  been  expecting  news  from  you  before  this 
time,  Thorp,"  he  said. 

'*  The  job  was  clone  up  smoother  than  such  matters  usually 
are,"  answered  the  wary  policeman. 

"  The  more  I  think  of  it,"  said  the  gentleman,  "  the  more 
I  am  convinced  that  the  party  concerned  was  of  the  better  sort 
—  a  gentleman  robber.  But  whoever  he  proves  to  be,  when 
you  get  your  grapples  on  him,  fix  him  tight,  sir." 

"  You  don't  want  him  treated  gently  on  account  of  reputation, 
or  previous  good  character,  or  anything  of  that  sort  ?  "  asked 
Thorp  —  with  a  motive,  perhaps. 

"  No,  sir  !  "  growing  excited  —  "  I've  no  weak  sympathy  for 
that  kind  of  scoundrels.  Deal  with  him  just  as  the  law  pro- 
vides, without  fear  or  favor.  If  it  was  my  own  son,  sir,  who 
had  been  guilty  of  such  a  high-handed  rascality,  I  should  want 
him  chucked  right  into  the  Tombs." 

John  Darryll  turned  on  his  heel ;  but  the  next  time  he  saw 
the  detective,  he  remembered  what  he  had  said. 

Of  course,  you  must  have  already  forestalled  who  was  the 
perpetrator  of  the  crime,  and  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  should 
dwell  on  it,  or  on  the  series  of  evil  doings  which  culminated  at 
last  in  this  sin.  Alas,  that  it  is  so  common  a  one  —  that  the 
columns  of  oxir  daily  papers  are  blackened  with  the  headings 
of  these,  and  that  at  the  time  I  write  this,  there  is  such  an  ap- 
palling activity  in  crime  in  high  places  ;  and  alas  for  the  broken 
hearts  and  blighted  households  upon  which  this  horror  falls,  a 
thousand  times  darker  than  death  ! 

The  policeman,  with  his  long  experience  in  these  matters,  had 
touched  on  the  main  points  of  Andrew  Darryll's  downwai'd  ca- 
reer. At  each  of  them  the  young  man  had  paused  a  moment ; 
but  he  had  no  moral  barriers  strong  enough  to  withstand  the 
flood-tide  of  temptation  which  set  toward  him,  and  he,  too,  went 
down. 

Gambling  overwhelmed  him  with  debts,  and  he  could  see  no 
way  through  them  except  by  rushing  into  speculations  which 
seemed  to  promise  an  easy  path  out  of  his  present  straits. 


180  DARRYLL   GAP,    OR 

Of  course,  he  was  usually  made  the  dupe  of  others  ;  and  driven 
19  desperation,  he  borrowed  money,  and  put  up  one  margin  after 
another. 

These  dehts  became  due  at  the  time  when  an  unusually  large 
venture  seemed  to  promise  immense  profits.  He  said  to  himself, 
with  that  sophistry  which  "has  beguiled  so  many  souls  to  death, 
that  he  would  borrow  the  money  of  his  father  ;  and  he  meant, 
or  thought  he  did,  to  repay  all  that  he  had  stolen.  And  so, 
desperate,  maddened,  he  played  and  lost. 

And  yet  Andrew  Darryll  was  not  alone  to  blame  in  this  mat- 
ter. At  the  door  of  his  father  and  his  mother  lay  a  part  of  the 
guilt,  little  as  either  suspected  it.  Had  not  John  Darryll,  by 
his  daily  life  and  example,  taught  his  son  that  the  making  haste 
to  be  rich  —  the  getting  and  holding  of  money  was,  after  all, 
the  great  dominant  object  of  life,  instead  of  laying  broad  and 
deep  as  life  itself  those  principles  of  honest  integrity,  upright- 
ness, beating  against  which  no  worldly  temptation  shall  prevail  ? 
Had  not  the  weak  mother  taken  for  granted  that  which  no 
mother  has  any  right  to  do  —  that  her  Sou  could  not  go  very  far 
out  of  the  way?  Had  she  not  the  flexible  soul  under  her 
moulding  influences  from  its  birth  ?  Had  she  sought  to  make 
the  young  conscience  sensitive  in  all  directions  during  these  for- 
mative years  —  the  love  of  right,  the  loyalty  to  truth  and  honor 
deeper  than  life  itself? 

Andrew  Darryll's  mother  would  have  laid  down  her  life  for 
him  ;  and  yet  she  was  "  found  wanting  "  here  ! 

She  had  placed  no  high  ideal  of  living  before  his  eyes  ;  she 
had  not  watched  his  besetting  sins,  and  fortified  him  where  he 
was  weakest ;  but  the  paramount  tendency  of  her  teaching  and 
example,  the  spirit  of  the  household,  had  been  such  as  to  make 
him  regard  the  world,  its  opinions,  its  standards,  its  honors,  as 
the  greatest  and  best  thing  in  life,  and  an  occasional  solemn 
shake  of  the  head  and  a  small  seasoning  of  "  pious  talk  "  could 
not  counteract  the  effect  of  general  example  and  daily  life,  and 
out  of  the  world  that  she  had  served  so  faithfully  for  her  own 
and  her  children's  sake,  was  Mrs.  Darryll  to  reap  her  reward. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE  Darryll  family  was  in  an  unusual  mood  of  excitement 
and  hilarity  that  afternoon.  The  ladies  were  preparing  for  a 
grand  fancy  ball,  which  was  to  come  off  that  evening  at  the 
residence  of  one  of  their  fashionable  friends.  The  affair  was 
intended  to  outshine  all  others  of  the  kind  for  the  season,  and 
the  feminine  Darrylls,  even  to  Rusha,  had  been  quite  carried 
away  with  the  prospect  in  store  for  them. 

Agnes  had  found  it  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  persuade 
her  mother  into  excusing  her  from  school  on  the  day  of  the  ball, 
and  they  were  all  assembled  in  Mrs.  Darryll's  room  in  a  bustle 
of  eager  preparation. 

Elegant  dresses  were  scattered  over  bed,  chairs,  and  table, 
and  diamonds  flashed,  and  rubies  blazed  on  the  dressing  cabinet, 
and  the  eager  discussion  and  the  pleasant  hum  of  chatter  went 
on  over  everything  else. 

"  It's  too  bad,"  said  Agnes,  with  a  natural,  girlish  longing 
for  display,  "  that  all  my  jewelry  should  be  tabooed,  because 
I've  got  to  be  a  flower-girl.  I  think  you  might  have  selected 
some  more  important  character  for  me,  Ella." 

"  Now  don't  pout,  child,  or  it  will  spoil  your  expression  for 
the  evening.  Your  part  just  fits  your  years  and  your  face. 
When  both  get  a  little  older,  your  turn  will  come  for  more  de- 
cided characters." 

"And  what  character  is  Rusha  to  take?"  inquired  Guy, 
who,  with  Tom,  had  just  lounged  into  the  room. 

"  O,  of  course,  it  is  something  nobody  but  Rusha  would  have 
thought  of.  She's  to  be  Ruth  gleaning  among  sheaves  —  a  char- 
acter which  doesn't  afford  the  slightest  opportunity  for  elegant 
costume.  I'm  not  certain,  however,  but  it  will  suit  her  style," 
16 


182  DARRYLL   GAP,   OB 

glancing  doubtfully  at  her  sister,  who  stood  before  the  mirror, 
in  a  cloud  of  dark  floating  hair. 

"  That's  a  capital  hit,"  asserted  Tom.  "  Just  the  thing  for 
Rusha." 

And  in  the  midst  of  all  this  hum  and  flutter,  the  front  door 
opened  and  shut  so  heavily  that  they  heard  it  above  their  chat- 
ter, and  a  moment  after  footsteps  ascending  the  stairs. 

"  Why,  is  that  your  father  home  so  early  !  "  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Darryll,  as  she  caught  the  sound. 

The  next  moment  the  door  opened,  and  John  Darryll  stood 
there,  looking  on  his  family,  but  with  such  a  look  as  none  of 
them  had  ever  seen  on  his  face  before.  It  was  ashen  gray,  as 
though  some  sudden  shame  or  terror  had  shocked  all  the  life 
out  of  it.  His  lips  were  set  and  white. 

He  stood  there,  several  moments,  looking  at  his  wife  and  his 
children  without  speaking  one  word,  but  with  that  awful  some- 
thing in  his  face  ;  and  then  he  turned  and  went  down  stairs  with 
slow,  heavy  steps,  that  had  a  terrible  sound  to  the  listeners  —  he, 
the  brisk,  alert  man  ! 

They  looked  at  each  other  with  scared  faces.  "  What  does 
it  mean  ?  "  one  asked,  and  then  another. 

"  Something  dreadful  has  happened,  children  !  I  never  saw 
your  father  look  like  that,"  said  Mrs.  Darryll.  "  I'm  all  of  a 
tremble !  " 

"  O,  dear  —  how  pa  did  glare  at  us  all !  I  never  was  so 
frightened  in  my  life,"  exclaimed  Agnes,  beginning  to  cry. 

"  I  can't  conceive  for  my  life  what  it  all  means,"  added  Tom. 
"  You  don't  think  he's  burst  up,  and  lost  the  last  dollar,  do 
you?" 

"  No,"  said  Rusha,  shaking  her  head,  and  her  face  looking 
paler  from  out  its  cloud  of  loose  floating  hair,  "  I  don't  think 
it  could  be  that,  but  it  was  something  he  had  not  the  heart  or 
the  courage  to  tell  us." 

"  He's  gone  down  into  the  sitting-room,  and  I  heard  him 
lock  the  door,"  said  Guy,  who  stood  nearest  the  hall. 

"  He  didn't  expect  to  find  us  up  here  in  his  room,  I  s'pose," 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

added  Ella,  standing  still  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  with  a  heap 
of  fine  draperies  across  her  arm.  She  was  intending  to  per- 
sonate Cleopatra  that  evening. 

"  We  must  not  waste  words  standing  here.  Something  ter- 
rible has  happened  to  pa,  and  we  must  find  out  what  it  is," 
said  Rusha,  decidedly. 

"It  makes  me  shudder  to  think  of  facing  that  look  of  his  !  " 
replied  Mrs.  Darryll,  in  a  piteous  tone. 

Rusha  went  over  to  her  mother,  and  laid  her  hand  entreat- 
ingly  on  the  latter's  shoulder. 

"  There  is  nobody  else  to  whom  he  will  be  so  likely  to  tell 
the  truth  as  to  you,  ma ;  and  now  that  some  dreadful  trouble 
has  come  upon  pa,  you  will  want  to  help  him  bear  it." 

Rusha  had  touched  the  right  chord.  Wifely  and  motherly 
affection  would  have  roused  the  timid  woman  into  defiance  of 
the  whole  world  ;  and  when  her  sons  and  daughters  united  their 
entreaties  to  Rusha's,  she  yielded,  and  went  down  stairs,  trem- 
bling in  every  limb,  to  meet  her  husband. 

The  young  people  huddled  together  about  the  door,  listening 
for  every  sound,  and  the  gay  finery,  heaped  all  around  the  cham- 
ber, made  a  strange  contrast  with  their  serious  faces. 

They  heard  their  mother  vainly  turn  the  door  knob,  and  then 
her  piteous  voice  came  up  to  them,  — 

"  John  —  John,  do  let  me  come  in !  " 

"  Go  away.  I  can't  see  you  know.  Leave  me  to  myself;  " 
and  there  was  some  suppressed  anguish  in  the  voice  which 
chilled  the  breathless  listeners. 

Then  again  they  heard  the  mother's  supplicating  cry,  — 

"  John,  what  is  the  matter?  I  must  come  in.  Do  open  the 
door." 

Then  John  Darryll  spoke  out  roughly,  as  he  had  never  spoken 
to  the  wife  of  his  youth, — 

"  Woman,  I  tell  you  to  go  away,  and  leave  me  to  myself. 
It's  of  no  use  to  stand  calling  there.  I  want  to  be*  alone  — 
that's  enough." 

Mrs.  Durryll  came  up  stairs,  and  if  her  face  was  white,  so 
also  were  those  that  awaited  her. 


184  DAERYLL    GAP,   OR 

"  Something  awful  has  happened  to  your  father,  children  — 
O,  what  is  it !  "  and  then  the  poor  frightened  woman  burst  into 
a  passion  of  tears. 

"  It  can't  be  that  lie's  gone  suddenly  crazy  !  "  said  Tom,  a 
little  under  his  breath. 

"  No,  it  isn't  that,  ails  pa,"  answered  Rusha,  promptly. 
"  Some  terrible  blow  has  come  upon  him.  If  we  could  only 
find  out  what  it  is." 

"  There's  nobody  in  the  world  can  do  so  much  with  pa  as 
Rusha,"  interposed  Ella.  "  Perhaps,  if  she  was  to  go  down,  he 
would  let  her  in." 

"O,  I  cannot  —  I  cannot,"  with  a  little  deprecatory  move- 
ment and  shudder.  But  they  all  beset  her  now,  insisting  that 
she  was  the  only  one  who  could  succeed  with  their  father,  and 
entreating  her  to  go  down  and  see  what  she  could  do  with  him. 
And  at  last  they  all  prevailed,  and  Rusha  said  she  would  go. 

But  it  was  a  touching  sight  —  that  face  of  hers,  with  its 
anxiety  and  fear,  as  it  went  down  the  long,  winding  stairs  to 
meet  the  unknown  dread  that  awaited  her  there.  As  she 
drew  near  the  sitting-room  door,  she  heard  her  father's  steps 
going  restlessly  back  and  forth  —  back  and  forth. 

"  Pa,  it  is  I  —  Rusha.     Do  not  send  me  away  too  !  " 

"  How  dare  you  persist  in  coming  here,  when  I  tell  you  I 
will  not  see  one  of  you  ?  " 

"  Because,  pa,  we  know  that  some  terrible  thing  has  happened 
to  you,  and  we  don't  want  you  to  bear  it  all  alone.  Surely 
your  wife  and  your  children  should  share  the  trouble  with  you, 
whatever  it  is.  Don't  send  me  away,  pa,  for  I  cannot  go.  I 
must  stand  here  pleading,  until  you  let  me  come  in." 

"  Child,"  said  her  father,  with  a  slight  softening  of  his  voice, 
"  you  don't  know  what  you  are  asking.  Go  away,  Rusha,  for 
I  cannot  face  any  one  of  you  with  the  truth." 

"  But  we  must  meet  it  sooner  or  later.  I  will  be  brave, 
pa,  only»let  me  come  in,  and  put  my  arms  about  your  neck, 
and  have  you  tell  me  so  "  —  her  sudden  tears  surprising  her 
here. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  185 

After  a  moment  or  two,  John  Darryll  went  to  the  door,  un- 
locked it,  and  drew  his  daughter  in.  It  seemed  as  though  his 
face  had  aged  a  score  of  years  in  the  last  few  hours.  So  they 
stood  looking  at  each  other. 

"  O,  how  can  I  tell  you  !  "  Out  of  his  lips  like  a  sharp  groan 
the  words  slid. 

"I  can  bear  it;  only  be  quick,  pa!"  she  answered,  in  such 
a  voice  as  a  wounded  man  might  say  it,  waiting  for  the  sur- 
geon's knife. 

He  took  her  hands  in  his. 

"  Can't  you  read  it  in  your  father's  face,  Rusha?" 

"  I  only  see  something  terrible  there.  Has  all  the  property 
gone  ?  "  her  thoughts  naturally  pointing  this  way  as  the  only 
misfortune  which  could  thus  overwhelm  her  father. 

"  No.     I  could  have  borne  that  better." 

"What  trouble  could  take  deeper  hold  of  John  Darryll  than 
that ! 

"  O,  father,  it  isn't  anything  about  Andrew !  "  She  knew 
then  she  had  reached  the  truth. 

"  Tell  me,  father !  "  her  cold  fingers  clutching  his  tightly. 

And  his  own  anguish  making  him,  for  the  moment,  forgetful 
of  hers,  John  Darryll  thrust  the  truth  fiercely  at  his  daughter. 

"  It  ivas  Andrew  stole  the  money  from  the  safe,  and  he's  gone 
to  the  Tombs  this  afternoon  for  his  crime  !  " 

Rusha's  shriek  was  not  loud,  but  the  family,  huddled  together 
up  stairs,  heard  it,  and  they  knew  that  the  iron  had  entered  her 
soul.  She  staggered  back  against  the  wall,  and  covered  her 
face  with  her  hands.  So  the  truth  broke  upon  her  in  a  mo- 
ment !  All  Andrew's  conduct  for  the  last  two  or  three  months 
rose  up  in  dreadful  confirmation  of  what  her  father  had  de- 
clared. Yet  it  was  natural  that  her  heart  should  struggle 
fiercely  against  the  truth,  and  she  shrieked  out  now,  — 

"  I  don't  believe  it,  father  !    There  is  some  foul  wrong  here." 

"  It's  too  true,  my  poor  child !     The  proof  is  clear  as  day- 
light, and  the  villain  has   confessed  the  crime   himself.      O, 
what  a  fool  I  have  been  not  to  see  —  and  yet  he  was  my  own 
16* 


186  DARBYLL    GAP,   OB 

son  —  how  could  I  suspect  it  of  him !  "  groaned  the  father,  as 
he  paced  the  floor. 

"  Have  you  seen  him?  " 

"  No,  not  since  the  arrest  —  that  happened  when  I  was  out ; 
at  my  own  office,  too,  before  all  the  clerks  !  " 

Rusha  grasped  the  chair  and  steadied  herself,  for  everything 
grew  dark  and  dizzy  as  the  awful  sin  and  shame  that  had  fallen 
on  their  house  rushed  upon  her.  "What  happened  for  the  next 
quarter  of  an  hour  she  nor  her  father  ever  seemed  able  to 
recollect. 

At  last  she  said  to  him,  lifting  up  the  pale,  drooping  face 
over  which,  during  the  last  hour,  a  storm  of  grief  and  agony 
had  swept,  — 

"  Father,  they  will  have  to  be  told  !  " 

"  I  can't  do  it.  Think  of  your  mother,  Rusha  !  "  groaned  the 
strong  man. 

Then  the  father  and  daughter  looked  at  each  other  again, 
silently ;  but  each  knew  what  was  in  the  thought  of  the  other. 
At  last  she  said — "I  think  I  could  do  it,  father,  if  you  will 
walk  with  me  to  the  stairs.  O,  dear  God  !  —  dear  God  !  help 
me  !  —  help  us  all !  " 

And,  in  a  blind  way,  John  Darryll's  heart  echoed  this  prayer 
as,  poor  man  !  it  had  never  echoed  one  in  all  his  life  before. 

At  last  she  rose  up,  and  said  she  was  ready.  He  led  her  to 
the  stairs,  blaming  himself  all  the  time  for  laying  on  her  slight 
shoulders  the  burdens  that  his  man's  strength  could  not  carry, 
but  yet  unable  to  gird  his  courage  for  the  task.  When  they 
reached  the  stairs,  however,  he  said,  looking  in  her  face  — 
"  It  is  too  bad,  my  daughter,  to  put  this  on  you ;  I  will  do  it 
myself." 

But  she  saw  that  he  hoped  she  would  refuse  his  offer,  and 
she  shook  her  head,  and  went  up  stairs  in  a  blind,  groping  way. 

It  was  hard  to  face  them  all  when  she  opened  the  door,  and 
to  meet  the  anxious,  wondering  gaze,  that  asked  what  nobody 
had  courage  to ;  for  each  saw  with  the  first  glance  that  she 
brought  no  comfort. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  187 

Rusha  went  straight  over  to  Mrs.  Darryll.  "  Dear  mother, 
we  will  all  help  you  to  bear  it,"  she  said,  in  a  tone  whose  very- 
pity  made  all  their  hearts  stand  still. 

"Bat  what  is  it,  Rusha?  Has  John  lost  his  last  dollar?" 
cried  the  pale,  trembling  mother. 

"  No  ;  it  is  worse  than  that ;  it  is  about  Andrew." 

"  About  Andrew  !  "  Every  voice  in  the  room  took  up  the 
chorus. 

"What  has  happened?  Is  my  boy  killed?"  the  mother 
cried  out,  sharply. 

"  It  is  worse  —  O,  a  thousand  times  worse  than  that !  " 

They  were  all  thunderstruck  into  a  moment's  silence,  and 
Rusha  knew  that  it  must  come  now.  "  Andrew  is  in  the 
Tombs  !  It  was  he  who  robbed  the  safe  I " 

For  a  moment  not  one  of  her  audience  could  comprehend 
the  awful  truth.  The  first  sound  they  heard  was  an  hysterical 
laugh  from  Ella,  as  her  nerves  gave  way  under  the  shock. 

Then  Mrs.  Darryll  sprang  up,  with  a  fierce  light  in  her  eyes. 
"  It  is  a  lie  —  a  foul,  shameful  lie  !  "  she  shrieked.  "  My  boy 
never  was  a  thief!  "  and  she  sank  down  in  strong  convulsions 
on  the  floor. 

And  with  the  sound  of  that  heavy  fall,  John  Darryll  knew 
that  the  truth  was  out  at  last,  and  forgetting  everything  else, 
he  rushed  up  to  the  help  of  his  wife. 

What  that  night  was  to  the  Darryll  family,  you  can  imagine 
better  than  I  can  write  —  imagine  all  the  excitement,  and 
agony,  and  shame  that  filled  it. 

The  heaps  of  splendid  finery,  scattered  on  all  sides,  formed  a 
strange  background  to  the  white  faces  which  moved  amongst 
them,  utterly  unmindful  of  the  things,  which,  a  few  hours  ago, 
had  completely  held  possession  of  their  souls.  Sometimes  one 
would  break  out  in  passionate  sobs,  sometimes  another ;  then 
they  would  all  huddle  together  in  a  strange  quiet,  completely 
paralyzed  by  the  dreadful  tidings. 

They  insisted  that  they  did  not  believe  Andrew  was  guilty 
long  after  they  did;  for  somehow  a  thousand  circumstances 


188  DABEYLL    GAP,' OR 

they  would  never  have  thought  of,  rose  up  iu  this  new  light  to 
corroborate  his  crime.  They  remembered  how  loud  he  had 
been  in  his  denunciations  of  the  guilty  party,  and  yet  how  fre- 
quently he  had  left  the  house  when  the  robbery  had  been  the 
subject  of  conversation  ;  above  all,  they  recalled  that  little  jest 
of  Ella's,  which  had  touched  the  core  of  the  truth  ;  and  Rusha 
remembered,  with  a  sick  pang,  the  look  which  had  dropped  so 
guiltily  away  from  hers  on  the  morning  when  she  had  that  talk 
about  the  unknown  criminal  and  his  family.  No  wonder  it  was 
more  than  he  could  bear !  As  for  Mrs.  Darryll,  she  lay  iu  a 
heavy  stupor  all  that  night,  for  they  were  obliged  to  administer 
opiates  to  keep  her  quiet ;  but  she  moaned  restlessly,  and  would 
frequently  start  up  and  cry  out  for  her  boy  in  a  way  that  was 
pitiful  to  hear. 

And  while  the  truth  had  fallen  with  the  crash  of  a  thunder- 
bolt upon  the  souls  of  his  brothers  and  sisters,  they  could  not 
help  dwelling  with  mingled  feelings  of  pity  and  horror  upon  the 
wretched  youth,  locked  up  in  his  lonely  cell  at  the  Tombs. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  the  successive  steps  which  led 
detective  Thorp  to  the  arrest  of  Andrew  Darryll.  To  use  the 
figure  of  the  policeman,  "  after  he  had  once  struck  the  trail  of 
the  fox,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  hunt  him  down." 

The  young  man  had  gambled  deeply,  and  his  fast  habits  of 
life  had  involved  him  heavily  in  debt.  In  order  to  escape  from 
the  pressure  of  his  creditors,  he  had  plunged  into  numerous 
speculations,  which  promised  to  quadruple  his  money.  One  by 
one  the  fair  bubbles  had  broken,  and  at  last,  goaded  to  des- 
peration, he  was  enticed  into  putting  up  a  margin  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars  —  a  sum  which  he  could  only  obtain  by  rob- 
bing his  father. 

Andrew  Darryll  was  the  victim  of  sharper  villains  than  him- 
self, and  from  day  to  day  he  was  beguiled  into  the  belief  that  a 
"  sudden  turn  in  the  tide  would  land  him  triumphantly  on  the 
shores,"  at  which  time  he  always  promised  his  conscience  to 
return  the  money  which  he  had  "  borrowed  "  of  his  father. 

But  the  toils  were  all  the  time  closing  around  the  miserable 


i 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  189 

youth.  The  one  creditor  to  whom  he  had  been  obliged  to  con- 
fide his  guilt,  in  order  to  secure  a  brief  respite  from  his  perse- 
cutions, was  at  last  frightened  into  betraying  him,  and  the  facts 
were  so  clear  at  the  time  of  young  Darryll's  arrest,  that  he  saw 
there  was  no  use  in  attempting  to  deny  his  crime,  and  on  his 
own  confession  he  was  committed  to  the  Tombs. 

All  these  things  Andrew's  horrified  brothers  and  sisters 
learned  that  night,  as  they  could  gather  it  from  their  father. 
What  a  different  evening  from  the  gay,  brilliant  scene  on  which 
all  their  imaginations  had  been  regaling  that  day  —  that  day, 
that  had  such  a  different  and  terrible  ending !  There  was  the 
guilt  of  Andrew's  crime,  which,  of  course,  shocked  every  one  of 
them ;  and  then  there  was  added  to  it  all  the  shame,  the  pub- 
licity, and  the  disgrace  of  the  thing. 

"  And  it  will  all  be  in  the  papers  to-morrow,"  sobbed  poor 
Ella,  in  a  corner  of  the  sofa,  off  from  which  she  had  been 
obliged  to  toss  a  heap  of  elegant  laces  and  draperies  in  order  to 
bestow  herself  there.  "  I  wish  we  could  all  run  off,  and  hide 
ourselves  in  a  cave  for  the  rest  of  our  days  !  " 

As  for  John  Darryll,  all  parental  affection  seemed  turned  to 
bitterness  in  the  case  of  his  son  ;  and  when  Rusha,  who  carried 
herself  with  more  steadiness  and  courage  than  any  of  the  others, 
through  all  this  awful  scene,  inquired  what  he  intended  to  do, 
he  answered,  fiercely  —  "I  intend  to  make  that  young  rascal 
taste  a  little  of  the  suffering  he  has  brought  down  on  all  our 
heads.  He  shall  find  how  good  it  is  to  lie  in  prison  for  a  while. 
I  presume  he  expects  that  I'll  get  him  out  to-morrow  morning ; 
but  he'll  learn  the  old  man 's  made  of  tougher  stuff  than  he's 
thought  of.  To  rob  me  and  then  throw  dust  in  my  eyes,  as  he 
has  done  !  the  young  rascal ;  but  he  shall  smart  for  it  before  he 
gets  through ! " 

"  O,  pa,"  pleaded  Rusha,  "  you'll  withdraw  the  prosecution, 
for  all  our  sakes  ;  you  won't  let  Andrew  go  to  prison  ?  " 

And  so  pleaded,  for  the  culprit,  every  son  and  daughter  of 
John  Darryll.  But  the  father  was  inexorable ;  he  would 
promise  nothing;  indeed,  it  almost  seemed  as  though  in  his 


190  DARRYLL   GAP,   OB 

grief  and  rage  he  took  a  stern  delight  in  the  thought  of  the 
punishment  that  was  to  come  down  on  the  head  of  the  son  who 
had  so  dishonored  him.  "  That's  what  he's  counted  on  all  the 
time  —  that  family  pride  would  step  in  and  save  him  ;  but  he'll 
find  it  won't  go  down  with  me,"  John  Darryll  would  only  answer 
to  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  all  his  children ;  and  at  last  he 
ended  by  peremptorily  ordering  them  all  to  their  rooms. 

"There's  one  thing,"  sobbed  Agnes,  as  she  placed  her  arm 
around  Ella,  for  this  common  grief  seemed  to  draw  the  whole 
family  closer  together  —  "  when  ma  comes  back  to  herself,  she 
won't  let  poor  Andrew  go  to  prison." 

"  I  don't  know,  Agnes  ;  if  Rusha  can't  do  anything  with  pa, 
there's  little  hope  for  anybody  else." 

What  a  miserable  time  it  was  under  the  stately  roof  that 
night !  How  the  thought  of  the  dark,  low  cell,  where  the  eldest 
son  and  brother  lay  in  dishonor  and  crime,  drove  sleep  from  the 
eyes  of  every  one  of  them. 

In  the  morning  Mrs.  Darryll  awoke  to  a  full  realization  of 
the  position  of  her  son.  The  poor  mother  was  almost  frantic ; 
but  her  husband,  although  he  tried  to  soothe  her  in  every  possi- 
ble way,  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  make  any  promises  for 
taking  active  measures  to  release  Andrew  immediately  from  the 
consequences  of  his  crime. 

"  The  punishment  that  he  has  brought  down  upon  his  own 
head  is  the  only  thing  that  will  bring  that  wretched  boy  to  his 
senses,"  was  all  that  John  Darryll  could  be  induced  to  say. 

So  the  breakfast,  at  which  Mrs.  Darryll  was  unable  to  be 
present,  passed  off  silent,  and  almost  untasted,  while  the  family 
underwent  a  fresh  humiliation  in  seeing  from  the  faces  of  the 
servants  that  they  already  knew  what  had  transpired. 

Mr.  Darryll  stood  before  the  grate-fire,  drawing  on  his  gloves, 
and  shrinking,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  from  the  ordeal  of 
going  out  and  facing  his  fellow-men  on  every  side,  knowing  that 
they  would  look  at  him  and  whisper  among  themselves  that  he 
was  the  father  of  a  thief. 

And  while  he  thought  of  this,  the  fires  of  his  wrath  burned 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  191 

fierce  against  his  son,  and  drank  up  for  a  while  all  the  springs 
of  parental  love  that  still  lay  strong  and  deep  in  his  soul. 

Suddenly  Rusha  broke  out  into  a  fit  of  passionate  crying. 
Nobody  spoke  for  a  few  moments,  understanding  too  well  the 
cause  of  her  grief,  and  at  last  she  sobbed  out  —  "  O,  pa,  I  was 
thinking  of  the  time  when  Andrew  and  I  were  little  things,  and 
you  used  to  give  us  a  ride  every  morning  in  the  wheelbarrow 
from  the  wood-shed  to  the  old  barn-door.  What  a  merry  time 
we  used  to  have,  and  what  a  pretty  little  fellow  he  was,  with 
his  dimpled,  laughing  face,  and  the  yellow  curls  shaking  all 
around  it !  O,  if  we  had  looked  forward  to  this  day,  and  seen 
where  he  is  now  —  where  he  is  now  !  —  "  her  sobs  choking  her. 

John  Darryll  walked  to  the  table,  and  there  rose  before  him, 
as  in  a  vision,  the  sweet  face  of  his  eldest  son,  as  it  laughed  up 
to  him  from  the  old  wheelbarrow,  in  the  days  when  he  was  a 
proud  and  happy  father.  All  his  sternness,  all  his  hot  anger 
vanished  before  that  picture,  and  he  leaned  down  his  head  on 
the  table,  and  the  strong  man  cried  like  a  child,  and  one  by  one 
his  children  went  out,  as  though  by  some  instinct,  and  left  him 
and  Rusha  alone  together,  and  she  stole  up  to  him,  and  put  her 
arm  around  his  neck. 

At  last,  he  drew  her  down  to  him.  "  Rusha,  my  daughter, 
you  are  the  greatest  comfort  your  father  has  in  the  world,"  he 
said,  and  the  words  that  grew  out  of  his  great  anguish  were  the 
sweetest  he  had  ever  spoken  to  her,  and  then  he  leaned  down 
and  kissed  her  cheek,  and  went  out  without  speaking  another 
word  ;  but  Rusha  knew  for  all  that,  that  her  father  Avould  with- 
draw the  prosecution,  and  that  Andrew  was  saved  from  prison. 


L 


192  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

DURING  the  three  days  which  followed  that  night,  which  would 
never  cease  to  come  back -sometimes  and  haunt,  with  its  awful 
horror,  the  memory  of  the  Darrylls,  nothing  was  heard  from 
Andrew.  The  prosecution  was  withdrawn,  and  the  young  man 
was,  of  course,  set  at  liberty  ;  but  no  one  of  his  family  wondered 
that  he  had  not  the  courage  to  show  his  face  in  the  home  he  had 
so  disgraced,  while  his  brothers  and  sisters  still  regarded  him 
with  feelings  that  alternated  betwixt  indignation  and  shame, 
pity  and  horror. 

During  this  time  the  story  became  public,  and  was  a  prolific 
theme  of  discussion  in  all  quarters  where  the  Darryll  family 
was  known.  The  facts  were  paraded  in  the  papers,  and  al- 
though the  name  was  suppressed,  everybody  knew  who  was 
the  guilty  party. 

Of  course  the  comments  which  the  crime  elicited  were  as 
varied  as  the  natures  who  made  them  ;  but  there  was  a  pervad- 
ing lack  of  charity  in  most  of  these.  Somehow,  people  never 
seemed  to  realize  that  they  each  stood  in  the  slippery  places 
of  the  world,  and  that  the  sudden  storm  might  come  down  and 
overwhelm  them  in  all  their  fancied  ease  and  security,  just  as  it 
had  the  Darrylls.  And  then  all  that  great  class  of  envious  and 
jealous  persons  —  all  those  who  half  unconsciously  feel  that  the 
prosperities  and  successes  of  others  are  a  wrong  done  to  them- 
selves, experienced  a  secret  complacency  in  the  humiliation 
which  had  overtaken  the  Darrylls. 

What  a  very  small  leaven  of  sympathy  there  was  in  the  buzz 
of  talk  that  went  to-  and  fro  —  how  much  unacknowledged  sat- 
isfaction in  the  virtuous  horror  with  which  the  fashionable 
friends  of  the  Darrylls  commented  on  Andrew's  crime,  and  on 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  193 

the  confusion  and  shame  which  he  had  brought  down  on  his 
family —  how  many  of  them  seemed  to  delight  to  hold  the  whole 
responsible  for  the  guilt  of  one,  and  how  many  "  hoped  that 
now  the  Darrylls  had  had  such  a  lesson  they  would  take  warn- 
ing, and  not  carry  themselves  in  future  with  so  many  airs  ;  or 
hold  their  heads  quite  so  high  above  people  who,  if  they  hadn't 
quite  so  much  money,  had,  at  least,  the  virtue  of  honesty ! " 

And  in  all  this  indignant  talk  one  could  easily  see  that  the 
head  and  front  of  the  Darrylls'  offence  was  in  enjoying  and  mak- 
ing a  display  of  the  wealth,  which,  had  the  others  possessed  it, 
they  would  certainly  have  done  to  an  equal  extent. 

But  all  this  time  the  family  was,  happily,  unconscious  of  the 
animadversions  heaped  upon  it.  Mrs.  Darryll  had  been  con- 
fined to  her  room  since  the  terrible  shock,  and  none  of  her 
daughters  had  been  outside  the  door,  shrinking  from  the  curious 
gaze  of  people,  and  speaking  to  each  other  in  low  voices,  and 
walking  about  the  house  in  that  intangible  shadow  of  disgrace 
which  is  worse  than  the  shadow  of  death ! 

As  the  days  went  by,  however,  and  Andrew  did  not  present 
himself,  the  question  what  had  become  of  him  began  to  be  up- 
permost in  the  thoughts  of  all  his  family.  Mr.  Darryll  once 
hoped  that  "  the  young  rascal  would  never  darken  his  doors 
again  ;  "  but  his  wife  cried  out,  in  a  voice  of  sharp  entreaty,  — 

"  Don't,  John,  don't  ever  say  that  again,  unless  you  want  to 
break  my  heart  outright ! "  and  he  never  was  heard  to  repeat 
this  remark ;  indeed,  Rusha  did  not  believe  her  father  really 
meant  it  at  the  time,  and  suspected  that  he  felt  a  secret  anxiety 
about  his  recreant  son  which  would  have  been  relieved  by  see- 
ing him  return  to  his  home. 

As-  for  Rusha,  her  solicitude  regarding  her  brother  increased 
with  every  day  of  his  absence.  She  felt  that  he  had  reached  a 
great  crisis  of  his  life,  and  that  if  he  did  not  turn  now,  suddenly 
and  absolutely,  from  his  evil  courses,  Andrew  Darryll  was  lost. 
She  understood,  and,  to  a  degree,  sympathized  with  the  feelings 
which  kept  him  away  from  his  home,  and  she  knew,  too,  that 
in  his  humiliation  and  misery  he  would  be  likely  to  turn  and 
17 


194  LABBYLL    GAP,   OR 

drown  these  in  the  wine-cup,  and  the  society  of  boon  compan- 
ions ;  and  so,  following  the  "  fearful  logic  of  evil,"  he  would 
sink  lower  and  lower  until  he  was  utterly  wrecked.  She  saw, 
too,  how  much,  at  this  time,  the  young,  weak  soul  required  the 
bracing  influences  of  family  love  and  forgiveness  —  how  he 
needed  its  strength  and  shelter  around  him  when  he  went  out 
into  the  world  once  more,  with  his  soiled  youth  and  blighted 
name,  to  live  down  both,  if  it  might  be. 

How  her  heart  yearned  over  him,  until  she  forgot  the  grief  he 
had  brought  upon  them  all,  in  pity  for  him ;  and  over  and  over 
she  said  to  herself,  "  We  must  save  him  !  O,  we  must  save  him  ! " 

And  one  night,  when  she  lay  awake  revolving  all  these  things 
in  her  mind,  and  wondering  whether  Andrew  might  not  leave 
the  city  at  once,  and  seek  to  bury  himself  away  from  the 
knowledge  of  them  all,  a  suggestion  of  his  going  to  Europe,  sud- 
denly flashed  across  her  with  the  force  of  conviction.  The  more 
she  turned  the  matter  over  in  her  thoughts,  the  more  probable  it 
seemed  to  her. 

She  remembered  that  he  had  often  of  late  talked  about  a  "  fel- 
low's seeing  a  little  of  the  world,"  and  dropped  hints  of  going 
to  Paris,  and  things  of  that  sort,  which,  at  the  time,  nobody 
minded,  but  which  now  recurred  to  her  with  new  meaning. 
Rusha  reflected  that  Andrew  would  thus  escape  from  much  that 
would  be  gall  and  bitterness  to  his  soul  if  he  remained  at  home 
—  that  he  had  friends  abroad,  who,  as  he  was  esteemed  "a  good 
fellow  "  among  them,  would  regard  his  crime  as  a  venial  one, 
and  be  likely  to  use  their  influence  to  get  him  into  some  com- 
mercial house  among  themselves.  Perhaps  he  had  already 
started,  Rusha  thought,  and  then  it  flashed  across  her  again, 
that  the  steamer  sailed  on  the  next  day. 

If  she  could  only  ascertain  —  only  see  him  once  before  he 
left ;  but  there  seemed  no  way  of  doing  this.  If  she  suggested 
the  matter  to  any  of  her  family,  they  would  probably  regard  it 
as  visionary,  and  in  case  her  father  was  sufficiently  impressed  to 
visit  the  steamer,  Rusha  feared  that  an  interview  betwixt  parent 
and  child  would  be  prolific  of  more  mischief  than  good,  for 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  195 

though  the  father  in  John  Darryll  had  triumphed  over  his  wrath 
sufficiently  to  spare  his  son  from  the  consequences  of  his  crime, 
he  still  manifested  great  bitterness  when  he  alluded  to  him. 

The  young  girl  lay  tossing  on  her  bed  thinking  over  all  these 
things,  and  unable  to  see  a  path  out  of  any  of  the  difficulties. 
But  Rusha  Darryll  was  not  one  to  easily  abandon  a  desire  when 
it  had  once  taken  possession  of  her,  especially  when  affection 
and  duty  brought'  their  impelling  forces  to  its  achievement ;  and 
she  at  last  resolved  to  confide  her  suspicions  to  nobody,  but  take 
matters  entirely  into  her  own  hands. 

She  laid  her  plans  to  take  the  cars  that  very  morning,  and  go 
down  to  the  pier  whence  the  steamer  sailed,  and  ascertain 
whether  Andrew's  name  was  amongst  the  list  of  passengers  ;  if 
it  was,  he  should  not  leave  without  seeing  her  ;  and  so  at  last, 
exhausted  in  mind  and  body  with  all  this  harrowing  thought, 
Rusha  fell  into  a  heavy  sleep. 

The  next  morning  there  came  out  of  the  front  door  and  stood 
a  few  moments  on  the  steps,  the  figure  of  a  woman  with  her 
face  hidden  behind  a  thick  veil.  Some  doubt  must  have  seized 
her  there,  for  she  stood  irresolute  a  few  moments,  one  gloved 
hand,  unconsciously,  at  play  with  the  railing. 

At  last  she  turned  away,  and  entered  the  house,  and  went 
straight  to  Mrs.  Darryll's  room,  startling  the  lady  by  her  singu- 
lar disguise. 

"  Mother,"  said  Rusha,  throwing  aside  her  veil,  "  I  did  not 
expect  to  tell  you  what  I  am  about  to  do,  because  I  feared,  in 
the  first  place,  that  you  would  disapprove  of  it,  or,  in  the  second, 
if  my  plan  should  fail,  that  you  would  be  disappointed.  But  at  the 
last  moment  my  heart  misgave  me.  If  I  should  succeed,  you 
might  have  sent  some  message  by  me  ;  so  I  have  come  back  to 
tell  you  what  nobody  else  in  the  world  suspects.  Mother,  I  am 
going  in  search  of  Andrew  !  " 

Poor  Mrs.  Darryll !  These  last  days  had  made  sad  ravages 
with  her  face,  bearing  witness  how  heavily  the  blow  had  fallen  on 
her  heart.  She  lifted  her  head  up  from  the  cushions  of  her  easy 
chair,  her  eyes  full  of  eagerness,  her  hands  trembling :  — 


196  DAERYLL    GAP,   OR 

"  O,  Rusha,  where  is  he  —  what  have  you  heard  ?  " 

"  Nothing  as  yet.  Do  try  and  be  calm,  mother ; "  and 
Rusha  sat  down  by  Mrs.  Darryll,  and  told  her  of  the  strong  im- 
pression which  had  seized  her  during  the  night,  and  how  she 
had  resolved  that  the  next  steamer  should  not  go  out  without 
ascertaining  whether  Andrew  was  on  board. 

Perhaps  Rusha's  earnestness  and  conviction  infected  her 
mother ;  at  all  events,  contrary  to  the  former's  expectation, 
Mrs.  Darryll  entered  eagerly  into  the  project. 

"  And  O,  if  you  see  Andrew,"  she  sobbed,  "  tell  him  his 
mother  loves  him  still  —  that  she'll  stand  by  him  if  all  the  rest 
of  the  world  deserts  him  —  that  he's  her  dear,  darling  boy, 
no  matter  what  he's  done,  nor  what  trouble  comes  to  him,  and 
that  all  the  world  can't  turn  her  away  from  him,  and  that  he 
may  be  certain,  wherever  he  goes,  and  whatever  comes,  that 
there's  one  place  in  the  world  that  will  never  change,  and  that 
will  always  be  ready  and  waiting  for  him,  and  that  is  his 
mother's  heart.  You'll  tell  him,  Rusha?" 

And  through  it  all  there  was  not  one  reproach  for  the  sin  and 
woe  he  had  wroilght ! 

"  Yes,"  said  Rusha,  trying  to  command  herself  amid  her 
tears ;  but  she  thought  if  those  words  did  not  heap  coals  of  fire 
hotter  than  any  reproaches  on  Andrew  Darryll's  soul,  then  he 
must  be  dead  to  all  love  and  all  shame. 

"And  look  here,  Rusha,"  as  the  daughter  rose  up,  and  her 
mother  pressed  a  purse  into  her  hand  ;  "  you  must  give  this  to 
Andrew,  for  he's  going  off  there  among  strangers,  and  he'll  want 
it.  Your  father  gave  it  to  me,  that  very  day,  to  get  a  new  watch, 
that  I  fancied  down  town  ;  but  I  don't  want  it  now,  and  Andrew 
shall  have  it.  Tell  him  mother  sent  her  forgiveness  and  bless- 
ing with  it." 

Rusha  held  the  purse  doubtfully  a  moment,  but  she  looked  at 
her  mother,  and  could  not  remonstrate.  As  she  reached  the 
door,  Mrs.  Darryll  called  her  back  and  kissed  her.  "  It's  for 
Andrew  !  "  she  said. 

An  hour  later,  Rusha  Darryll  stood  on   the  deck  of  the 


I 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  197 

steamer,  which  was  to  start  that  noon  for  Liverpool.  The  small, 
lonely,  veiled  figure  had  made  its  way,  as  best  it  could,  through 
the  crowd  of  cabmen,  through  the  piles  of  goods,  through  all 
the  noise,  and  bustle,  and  confusion  which  always  attend  the 
departure  of  a  steamer  for  Europe.  But  these  once  passed,  and, 
trembling  and  exhausted,  her  feet  landed  on  the  steamer,  poor 
Rusha' s  heart  failed  her.  The  whole  purpose  which  had  brought 
her  here  seemed  now  to  grow  visionary  as  a  myth,  and  she  really 
had  not  the  courage  to  go  up  to  the  office  and  put  the  question 
on  which  everything  depended. 

So  she  wandered  among  the  elegant  saloons,  glancing  through 
the  folds  of  her  veil  at  strange  faces,  aud  at  groups  of  people, 
all  of  whom  were  too  much  absorbed  to  notice  her,  while  her 
heart  sank  lower  every  moment,  as  the  figure  for  which  she- 
searched  seemed  to  vanish  farther  away. 

But  as  she  reached  the  end  of  the  large  saloon,  and  was  about 
retracing  her  steps,  a  voice  struck  her  which  made  her  start,  a 
voice  just  outside  the  door.  There  was  a  low,  murmured  reply, 
and  then  again  those  familiar  tones  coming  through  the  half- 
opened  door.  Rusha  burst  through  it,  and  sprang  out  on  the 
guards.  There  stood  Andrew  by  the  railing,  with  his  back  to- 
wards her,  talking  with  some  young  girl,  whose  head  was 
bowed  down  as  though  she  was  weeping. 

"0,  Andrew  !  "  not  a  loud  cry,  but  one  full  of  hungry  pain 
and  joy  as  it  broke  from  her  lips.  The  young  man  sprang  up 
as  oue  suddenly  shot ;  so  did  his  companion,  and  faced  Rusha  a 
moment  with  her  bewildered  gaze  —  a  young,  rather  pretty  girl, 
in  a  somewhat  showy  dress  and  bonnet. 

"  Rusha !  "  the  name  dropped  from  Andrew's  lips  mechan- 
ically, and  his  whole  face  was  white  as  though  sudden  death 
had  blanched  it.  At  that  word  his  companion  hurriedly  dis- 
appeared ;  and,  in  the  strong  joy  and  bitterness  of  the  moment, 
Rusha  did  not  think  of  her.  She  sprang  forward  and  clung  to 
her  brother,  trying  to  speak,  but  all  the  while  her  sobs  chok- 
ing her. 

As  for  him,  there  was  no  doubt  he  was  strongly  affected  as 
17* 


198  DAEBTLL   GAP,   OR 

the  sobbing,  trembling  figure  clung  to  his  side.  Which  spoke 
first,  nobody  knew,  but  Andrew's  earliest  inquiry  was  in  a 
whisper :  — 

"  Who  told  you  ?  —  how  did  you  find  me  out  here,  Rusha  ?  " 

"  Nobody ;  it  must  have  been  my  own  heart,  Andrew  !  " 

"Who  came  with  you?"  glancing  around  in  a  hurried, 
frightened  way  —  the  way,  alas,  of  guilt  ! 

"  I  came  alone.  O,  Andrew,  did  you  think  I  could  let  you 
go  off  so  without  comiag  to  find  you  !  " 

He  did  not  speak  for  a  moment.  She  felt  the  strong  young 
frame  shake  to  and  fro  by  her  side  ;  then,  anybody,  whose  eyes 
were  not  dimmed  as  hers  by  thick  weeping,  might  have  seen 
the  blood  blaze  up  suddenly  into  the  pallor  of  his  face. 

"  You  know,  Rusha,  what  I  have  done  —  what  I  am?  "  whis- 
pered Andrew  Darryll. 

"  Yes,  I  know  all,  Andrew."  Her  tones  keyed  to  his.  She 
felt  him  lean  heavily  against  her,  as  though  there  were  some 
strength  and  comfort  for  him  in  her  very  presence. 

"  I  supposed  you  would  never  want  to  see  me  afterwards." 

"  O,  Andrew,  did  you  think  that  I — that  we  all  loved  you 
so  little  as  that?  " 

I  think  that  Andrew  Darryll  never  realized  the  extent  of  his 
crime  until  that  moment  —  nor  realized,  too,  what  this  family 
love  was,  against  which  he  had  so  sinned,  and  which  was  yet, 
out  of  its  great  fulness,  so  ready  to  shelter  and  forgive  all.  It 
completely  overcame  him.  He  burst  into  a  fit  of  miserable 
crying :  — 

"  O,  Rusha,  I  wish  I  was  dead  !  "  but  through  all,  his  grasp 
never  let  her  go,  as  though  she  was  the  one  anchor  to  which  his 
weak  soul  could  cling  in  all  the  world. 

Perhaps  it  was  as  well  that  no  words  came  to  Rusha  just 
then.  She  only  cried  with  him. 

At  last  he  whispered  —  "How  did  they  bear  it  at  home? 
Tell  me  the  whole." 

And  she  did,  every  word  —  seeing  he  asked  her,  and  it  was 
in  her  very  nature  to  be  truthful  —  every  word  —  from  the 


! 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  199 

moment  that  her  father  came  up  stairs  and  looked  in,  with  that 
awful  face  of  his,  upon  their  bustle  and  gayety ;  and  although 
she  saw  what  torture  it  cost  him  to  hear  of  the  wretchedness 
he  had  brought  upon  them  all,  something  in  her  brother's  face 
told  her  to  go  on. 

When  she  was  through,  he  asked  hurriedly  —  "But  the 
prosecution  was  withdrawn  next  day?" 

He  was  completely  broken  down  when  she  came  to  tell  him 
of  that  little,  homely  scene  in  his  childhood,  which  she  had 
recalled,  of  his  sitting  by  her  side  in  the  old  wheelbarrow,  and 
riding  back  and  forth  in  childish  glee  from  the  great  barn-door 
to  the  wood-shed ;  and  in  a  great  stress  of  shame  and  remorse 
the  words  were  sobbed  out,  — 

"  If  I  had  only  died  then,  Rusha  1  " 

But  after  all,  she  was  not  sure  that  the  thing  which  struck 
deepest  into  Andrew  Darryll's  soul  were  not  those  last  messages 
of  his  mother's.  How  she  got  through  with  them  she  never 
could  remember. 

"  O,  Rusha,"  the  young  man  groaned  out  at  last,  "  if  I  had 
only  known  how  you  all  loved  me,  I  should  not  have  been  what 
I  am  to-day  !  " 

"  Perhaps  AVC  never  any  of  us  knew  until  now.  Come  home 
and  try  us  !  " 

Every  nerve  in  his  frame  quivered  as  from  a  sudden  shock. 
"  Rusha,  do  you  think  I  am  so  lost  to  all  feeling  for  you,  to  say 
nothing  of  myself,  as  to  go  back  and  encounter  what  I  must  in 
my  own  land,  among  my  own  people,  whom  I  have  so  dis- 
honored ?  " 

In  his  whole  life,  Rusha  Darryll  had  never  heard  her  brother 
speak  with  so  much  force  and  dignity.  There  was  weight,  too, 
in  his  reasoning.  Rusha  felt  that,  looked  at  from  almost  any 
point  of  view,  this  going  abroad  seemed  almost  the  best  thing 
that  Andrew  could  do. 

A  few  questions  drew  out  all  his  plans.  He  was  going,  as 
she  suspected,  to  Paris,  where  he  said  he  had  some  friends,  and 
could  get  into  some  business. 


200  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

"  But  it  is  a  dreadful  wicked  city  —  no  Sabbaths,  no  God. 
O,  Andrew,  my  poor  brother,  what  will  become  of  you  ?  " 

"  They  haven't   all  saved   me   here,"    he  answered,  bitterly 
enough. 

"  But,  Andrew,  you  will  remember  us  at  home — you  will 
think  at  least  of  your  poor  broken-hearted  mother ;  and  you 
will  remember,  too,  that  one  of  your  sisters  will  never  rise  up 
in  the  morning,  never  go  to  her  sleep  at  night,  without  praying 
God  to  keep  you  through  all  the  fiery  temptations  in  which  I 
know  your  daily  life  will  lie.  Do  say  you  will  not  forget  it, 
Andrew,  or  it  seems  to  me  I  shall  die." 

He  bent  down  his  head  on  the  railing  —  "  Rusha,  if  anything 
in  this  world  can  save  me,  it  will  be  the  thought  of  you." 

And  it  argued  well  for 'the  depth  of  Andrew's  repentance 
that  in  all  this  he  did  not  seek  to  excuse  himself.  He  told 
Rusha  the  whole  story,  insisting  throughout  that  he  had  in- 
tended to  refund  the  money,  before  its  withdrawal  should 
have  transpired,  and  making  her  shudder  in  every  limb  when 
she  found  how  close  to  suicide  his  despair  and  desperation  had 
goaded  him. 

His  eyes  glared  even  now  with  a  fierce  light,  and  his  whole 
frame  shook,  as  the  memory  of  that  awful  temptation  rushed 
over  him. 

At  last  the  bell  rang.  There  was  little  time  remaining. 
"  You  will  give  my  love  to  them  all  at  home,  and  ask  them  all 
to  forgive  me  —  especially  mother  ! "  his  lips  quivering  over  the 
name,  and  all  the  old  smartness  and  swagger  gone  from  Andrew 
Darryll. 

"  Yes,  dear  boy.  Now  take  good  care  of  yourself.  O,  here 
is  ma's  purse,  and  a  little  change  of  mine  that  I  happened  to 
have  by  me.  You'll  need  it  all  over  there,  Andrew." 

"  I  don't  feel  as  though  I  ought  to  take  it,  Rusha.  I  mean 
to  carve  out  my  own  way  now." 

But  she  pressed  it  on  him. 

"  And  you'll  be  sure  and  write  ?  "  trying  to  keep  her  voice 
brave  and  cheerful,  although  it  was  one  of  those  finely-toned 


WHETHER  IT  PAID,  201 

instruments,  in  too  close  harmony  with  her  feelings  not  to  be- 
tray her.  "And  you'll  remember  —  O,  Andrew,  you  know 
what  I  mean  ?  " 

"  Rusha,  after  the  solemn  promise  that  I  made  you  long  ago 
on  my  sick  bed,  can  you  have  any  faith  in  me  when  I  tell  you 
now  that  I  mean  to  try  ?  " 

She  stroked  his  hair  without  speaking  one  word. 

"  Rusha  —  little  Rusha,  you  are  the  best  sister  a  brother 
ever  had ! " 

"  I  wish  I  had  been  a  great  deal  better  one." 

As  Rusha  said  these  words,  she  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
strange  face  that  she  remembered  now  to  have  seen  in  conver- 
sation with  her  brother,  and  this  time  it  looked  anxiously  out 
of  the  saloon  door  and  then  vanished. 

"Andrew,  who  is  that  girl  you  were  talking  with?" 

He  looked  at  her  and  was  dumb.  How  could  Andrew  Dar- 
ryll  let  his  delicate,  pure-hearted  sister  glance  down  any  deeper 
into  the  black  gulf  of  his  sin  and  shame !  But  his  look  told 
her  all.  This  last  shock  seemed  more  than  she  could  bear.  A 
sick  faintness  went  over  her,  and  she  dropped  her  face  into  her 
hands  and  groaned  aloud. 

And  Andrew  Darryll  felt  in  that  hour  that  all  his  sins  had 
found  not  only  him  out,  but  those  who  loved  him  best,  to  over- 
whelm them  with  shame  and  agony. 

"  Rusha,"  he  faltered,  "  she  is  not  so  bad  as  many  of  them, 
and  she  only  came  down  here  to  say  good  by  to  me.  We  shall 
never  see  each  other  again." 

Rusha  wrung  her  hands.  "  Her  house  is  the  way  to  hell !  " 
speaking  the  first  words  that  came  to  her.  "  And  you  are  going 
off  to  that  wicked  laud  where  these  things  are  not  looked  upon 
as  sin.  O,  what  will  become  of  you,  Andrew  !  " 

The  last  bell  was  ringing.  The  people  were  all  hurrying  off; 
and  in  the  great  shock  and  bewilderment  of  her  anguish,  Rusha 
turned  to  go  without  another  word. 

A  beseeching  voice  followed  her.  "  Rusha,  will  you  leave 
me  so?" 


202  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

Then  she  turned.  The  love,  stronger  than  life,  deeper  than 
all  her  loathing  and  horror,  triumphed  still.  She  sprang  upon 
her  brother's  neck,  and  covered  his  face  betwixt  her  hot  tears 
with  kisses.  Then  —  there  was  no  more  time  to  spare  —  she 
turned  and  went  away. 

But  after  she  had  gained  the  pier,  she  came  suddenly  face  to 
face  with  the  girl  —  the  girl  with  the  rather  pretty  features  and 
the  showy  dress  —  who  was  just  stepping  off  the  plank,  and 
had  probably  found  time  for  a  last  parting  word  with  Andrew 
Darryll. 

Rusha  stood  still,  and  in  the  wrath,  and  loathing,  and  horror 
of  that  moment,  she  longed  to  fly  at  the  girl  and  stamp  her  in 
the  dust,  or  tear  her  in  pieces.  Such  emotions  had  never  be- 
fore raged  through  the  soul  of  Rusha  Darryll ;  but  you  must 
remember  she  was  thinking  of  her  brother,  and  laying  his  sin 
at  this  girl's  door. 

She  was  fairly  frightened  when  she  came  to  herself,  and  she 
stood  on  the  pier  and  watched  the  steamer  sweep  out  into  the 
river,  and  thought  with  a  sinking  heart  of  him  who  was  carry- 
ing far  away,  to  a  strange  land,  the  name  he  had  left  soiled  and 
dishonored  among  his  own  people  ;  and  so,  with  her  blinding 
tears  choking  her,  she  turned  and  went  home. 

Poor  Rusha  !  It  had  been  one  of  those  mornings  which  never 
leaves  as  it  found  us  —  which  takes  some  of  the  freshness  and 
joy  out  of  life,  and  sobers  and  saddens  us  for  all  the  years  that 
are  to  come. 

That  Rusha's  whole  family  "was  electrified  with  the  tidings 
which  she  carried  home  that  day,  is  saying  very  little.  They 
were  all  deeply  impressed  and  affected  with  her  last  interview 
with  Andrew,  and  from  that  hour  Rusha's  judgment  and  pre- 
science had  new  weight  with  the  whole  household. 

Her  father  did  not,  in  so  many  words,  approve  or  disapprove 
of  her  visit  to  the  steamer ;  still,  when  she  had  finished  her 
relation,  and  he  drew  her  to  him,  while  her  mother  and  most  of 
the  others  were  sobbing  or  crying  silently,  and  said,  in  a  voice 
not  just  steady,  "  My  daughter,  you  have  been  a  good  girl !  " 
everybody  knew  what  he  thought  and  felt. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  203 

Perhaps  Andrew  Darryll  had  chosen  the  best  course  that  he 
could,  in  going  abroad  and  seeking  to  build  up  a  new  name. 
While  his  crime  was  still  fresh  in  the  thought  of  all  men,  he 
must  have  had  to  encounter  much  that  would  have  stung  and 
galled  him  on  every  side,  and  from  which  all  his  father's 
Avealth  and  the  position  it  afforded  could  not  save  him ;  and 
to  his  own  family  his  pi-esence  could  have  been  nothing  else 
than  a  constant  shame  and  reproach,  for,  as  Rusha  had  said, 
"  No  man  liveth  to  himself."  And  though  in  the  new  life  to 
which  he  went,  the  young,  weak  soul  must  walk  the  paths  of 
fiery  temptations,  still  these  could  hardly  be  more  dangerous 
than  the  old  associations  which  he  had  left  behind. 

"  Sometimes,"  said  Rusha,  after  she  had  told  all  she  had  to 
tell,  and  they  had  talked  it  over  for  hours,  "  sometimes  I've 
almost  wished  that  pa  had  never  made  this  fortune,  and  that  we 
were  just  poor  folks,  living  on  in  the  old  way,  in  the  little  home, 
a  happy,  unbroken  family,  just  as  we  were  before  any  of  this 
grief  and  misery  came  upon  us.  It  was  the  money,  after  all, 
that  was  at  the  bottom  of  poor  Andrew's  going  wrong,  and 
when  I've  thought  of  that,  I've  asked  myself,  Whether  it  Paid  — 
after  all,  WHETHER  IT  PAID." 

Her  words  had,  in  their  present  softened  mood,  a  weight 
with  father  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  that  they  could 
not  possibly  have  carried  in  any  other.  For  a  little  while 
nobody  answered  her,  and  at  last  Agnes  spoke  up  in  a  half 
timid  way,  — 

"  But  you  know,  Rusha,  the  money's  got  us  a  great  many 
nice  things." 

At  any  other  time  they  would  certainly  have  laughed ;  but 
nobody  saw  the  joke  now. 

"  I  know  it  has,  Aggie,  child,"  answered  the  elder  sister. 
"  I  am  not  undervaluing  the  uses  of  money.  I  love  the  new 
beauty,  grace  and  elegance,  with  which  it  has  surrounded 
us.  I  see  how  it  has  enlarged  our  lives  on  every  hand, 
opening  to  us  new  avenues  of  being  and  enjoyment,  and  for 
all  this  I  do  not  think  God  blames  us ;  but  we  didn't  take  the 


204  DARRTLL    GAP,    OB 

new  fortune  right  at  the  beginning  —  at  the  beginning,"  she 
repeated  to  herself. 

"What  did  we  do,  or  fail  to  do?"  asked  Tom,  very  seri- 
ously. 

"  The  riches  were  God's  gift,  and  we  never  acknowledged 
this.  We  never  thought  that  a  great  power  for  good  had 
fallen  into  our  hands,  nor  sought  to  do  any  in  the  world 
with  it.  We  only  thought  of  what  it  would  get  for  us  in 
all  directions  —  thought  of  ease  and  display,  of  splendor  and 
luxury,  and  where  our  fortune  would  place  us  in  the  regard  of 
others;  but  if  one  of  us  ever  remembered  to  thank  God  for  the 
new  wealth,  or  to  say,  *  What  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  with  all 
this?'  I  have  never  heard  of  it,  and  during  all  these  dreadful 
days  my  eyes  have  seemed  slowly  to  open,  and  the  question  has 
risen  up,  and  followed,  and  haunted  me  everywhere,  and  my 
soul  could  not  answer  what  it  asked —  Whether  Darryll  Gap 
Paid?  WHETHER  IT  PAID?" 

They  were  all  silent,  and  in  that  tender,  solemn  moment,  as 
never  before,  and  as  perhaps  it  never  Avould  again,  this  question 
of  Rusha's  waited  at  the  gates  of  the  souls  of  every  member  of 
the  family  —  Whether  Darryll  Gap  Paid  f  —  WHETHER  IT  PAID  ? 


A 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  205 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

"  I'VE  come  to  the  conclusion,"  said  Ella  Darryll,  one  day, 
addressing  whatever  members  of  her  family  happened  to  be 
present  at  the  time,  "  that  the  best  thing  we  can  do  about  this 
matter  of  Andrew's  is  just  to  brave  it  right  out.  Of  course  it 
was  a  dreadful  thing  ;  nobody  can  feel  the  disgrace  of  having  a 
brother  in  the  Tombs,  and  his  name  in  every  one's  mouth  as  a 
thief,  more  than  I  do.  But  we  can't  shut  ourselves  up  in  the 
house  the  rest  of  our  lives,  for  all  that,  and  we've  got  to  put  a 
bold  face  on  the  whole  thing,  and  go  right  out  into  the  world  as 
though  nothing  had  happened  ;  and  the  sooner  we  do  it  the  better. 
It  isn't  the  first  time,  by  any  means,  that  folks  have  had  to  live 
down  disgrace  ;  and  we  owe  it  to  ourselves  to  let  the  world  see 
we're  not  crushed  yet." 

"  I  think  there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  what  you  say, 
Ella,"  said  Rusha,  thoughtfully. 

There  undoubtedly  was.  The  world,  especially  that  sort  of 
one  in  which  the  Darrylls  moved,  is  always  more  or  less  influ- 
enced by  appearances,  and  the  very  people  who  might  condemn 
most  loudly  their  want  of  a  proper  appreciation  of  Andrew's 
guilt,  would,  very  likely,  be  those  who  would  court  their  society 
most  assiduously. 

Ella,  too,  had  that  kind  of  imperiousness  of  character,  which, 
though  it  does  not  usually  assimilate  with  a  fine  and  sensitive 
nature,  has  a  good  deal  of  power  among  men  and  women,  as  it 
requires  a  certain  sort  of  courage  to  set  one's  self  in  opposition 
to  it. 

"  It's  the  only  thing  that's  left  us  to  do,"  continued  the  latter ; 
"  and  for  my  part,  I  think  four  weeks  are  quite  long  enough  to 
seclude  ourselves  from  all  mankind.  I'm  tired  of  it,  too  ;  and 
18 


206  DARRTLL   GAP,   OR 

all  we  have  to  do  is  to  act  as  though  nothing  had  happened,  and 
of  course  nobody  will  allude  to  the  thing  in  our  presence. 

"  We  will  order  the  carriage  and  go  out  this  very  morning, 
Rusha  ;  won't  you  go,  too,  ma?  " 

"  I  don't  feel  much  like  it,"  replied  Mrs.  Darryll,  in  a  sort 
of  languid,  undecided  way. 

"  O,  now  —  come,  ma;  you'd  better  go  with  us,"  added 
Rusha.  "  The  fresh  air  will  do  you  good ;  and  besides,  you 
know  the  best  way  to  make  other  people  forget  what  Andrew 
has  done,  is  not,  by  secluding  ourselves,  to  constantly  remind 
them  of  it." 

The  daughter  felt  that  her  mother's  thoughts  needed,  if 
possible,  to  be  diverted  into  some  other  channel ;  and  she  knew 
that  the  argument  which  would  be  most  likely  to  have  weight 
with  Mrs.  Darryll,  at  this  time,  would  be  one  that  afforded  a 
prospect  of  some  benefit  to  her  eldest  son. 

"  I  s'pose  likely  it  would  be  the  best  thing  we  could  do  for 
that  poor,  dear,  foolish  boy !  "  answered  the  mother,  with  a 
good  deal  more  animation  than  her  previous  answer  had 
displayed. 

"  And  I'm  not  certain,"  continued  Ella,  still  further  strength- 
ened in  her  opinion  by  the  readiness  with  which  her  family  had 
acted  on  it,  "  but  the  best  thing  we  can  do  now  is  to  go  the 
whole  figure,  and  give  a  great  party  —  have  a  real  smash,  you 
know,  which  will  be  a  sort  of  tacit  proclamation  to  the  world, 
that  we  don't  intend  to  let  Andrew's  affair  take  us  down  a  par- 
ticle. It  strikes  me  that  this  will  be  just  doing  the  thing  up 
brown.  What  do  you  say,  Rusha  ?  " 

"  I  do  think  a  good  deal  of  the  world's  respect,  but  on  the 
whole  I  think  more  of  my  own,  and  if  one  is  to  be  retained  at 
such  a  sacrifice  of  the  other,  as  giving  a  great  party  at  this 
crisis,  why,  the  world  must  go." 

"  I  can't  see,  for  the  life  of  me,  what  connection  giving  a 
party  has  with  your  self-respect,  or  the  loss  of  it,"  added  Ella, 
a  little  crest-fallen. 

"  How  can  you  help  '  seeing,'  Ella,  the  ill  taste  and  vulgarity, 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  207 

to  put  it  on  no  higher  grounds,  of  giving  a  grand  party  just  at 
this  juncture  !  It  would  be  outraging  the  moral  sense  of  every 
really  worthy  and  honest  person  in  the  community.  For  my 
part,  I  had  rather  the  world  should  know  that  I  felt  too  deeply 
my  brother's  guilt  and  shame  to  indulge  in  anything  of  that  sort 
at  this  time." 

"  Well,  I  didn't  expect  to  enjoy  the  thing ;  I  only  suggested 
it  as  a  matter  of  policy,"  rejoined  Ella,  half  in  self-defence,  for 
Rusha  had  put  the  matter  in  a  light  that  left  it  no  longer  open 
to  discussion. 

As  she  was  descending  the  stairs  an  hour  later,  dressed  for 
her  ride,  Rusha  met  Tom,  who  had  just  come  in. 

"  What  does  all  this  mean  ?  "  asked  the  young  man,  a  good 
deal  startled  at  her  appearance,  as  he  had  not  been  present  at 
the  family  decision  that  morning. 

"  It  means,  Tom,  that  we've  resolved  to  seclude  ourselves  no 
no  longer  on  account  of  Andrew.  We've  the  ordeal  of  braving 
the  world  to  go  through,  and  the  longer  we  put  it  off,  the 
harder,  of  course,  it  will  be.  People  will  make  their  comments 
either  way,  and  it  is  as  well,  perhaps,  to  let  them  see  at  once  we 
shall  not  be  influenced  by  them." 

"  That's  so." 

"  But  I  dread  going  out,  for  all  that." 

"  I  understand  it,  Rusha.  You  feel  just  as  I  did  that  first 
day  about  going  down  town.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  never 
could  look  anybody  in  the  face  ;  but  it  passed  off  after  a  while. 
Never  you  mind,  only  be  brave." 

She  smiled  her  thanks  on  him  for  the  kindly  advice,  and 
went  on  down  stairs  without  speaking  a  word.  But  before  she 
reached  the  landing,  she  turned  back  and  called  her  brother, 
for  he  was  not  yet  out  of  hearing.  Tom  came  at  once. 

"  O,  Tom,"  in  a  swift,  agitated  voice,  "  I  want  to  say  to  you 
that  you  stand  in  poor  Andrew's  place  now ;  that  you  are  the 
eldest  son  ;  that  the  birthright  which  he  has  in  a  sense  betrayed 
has  fallen  on  you.  You  will  be  faithful  to  it?  You  will  not 
wring  our  hearts  some  day  as  he  has  done?  It  would  kill  me 


208  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

if  you  slioulcr — I  could  never  go  through  another  scene  like 
that  on  the  steamer.  I  know  I  should  die ! "  clinging  to  him 
and  crying  as  the  awful  memory  came  back  on  her. 

Tom  was  visibly  affected.  The  tears  were  thick  in  his  eyes 
too.  "  Rusha,"  he  said,  "  I  will  try  to  stand  to  you  all  in  poor 
Andrew's  place ;  but  you  do  not  believe  that  I  shall  turn  out 
like  him  —  you  have  more  faith  in  me  than  that  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  have,  Tom ;  only,  after  such  a  terrible  thing,  it  is 
natural  we  should  all  tremble  for  each  other ;  but  you  know 
how  it  was  in  ancient  times  —  when  the  eldest  brother  lost  his 
birthright  by  death,  or  worse,  the  next  took  his  place.  And 
now  Andrew's  mantle  has  fallen  on  you.  0,  Tom,  wear  it 
more  worthily ! " 

Just  then  she  heard  the  carriage  wheels  on  the  curbstones, 
and  Ella's  voice  calling  her.  She  put  her  wet  cheek  to  Tom's  a 
moment,  and  then  went  down,  and  her  brother  went  to  his  room, 
with  Rusha' s  words  deep  in  his  soul ;  and  he  sat  down  and 
thought  for  the  next  hour  just  as  he  had  never,  in  his  loud,  care- 
less youth,  done  before  —  the  thoughts  that,  at  his  age,  are  the 
seed  which,  ripening  along  the  slopes  of  the  years,  bear,  in  the 
summer  of  manhood  their  harvests  of  brave,  true  words  and 
deeds. 

The  trial  through  which  they  had  passed  had  not  been  with- 
out its  influence  upon  the  Darryll  family,  in  various  ways,  and, 
on  the  whole,  for  the  better.  Even  Guy,  who  had  formerly 
made  Andrew  his  model,  no  longer  affected  the  fast  young  man 
in  his  manners  ;  and  when  he  was  tempted  to  grumble  at  the  new 
interest  which  his  father  manifested  in  all  his  habits  and  resorts, 
and  his  stern  interdiction  of  all  late  hours  —  even  Guy  remem- 
bered his  eldest  brother,  and  was  silent. 

This  common  grief  had  drawn  them  all  closer  together,  and 
indicated  itself  in  a  new  gentleness  and  thoughtfuluess  of  man- 
ner, each  towards  the  other ;  but  the  leaven  was  working  in 
Rusha's  heart  and  soul  as  it  could  not  in  any  of  her  family. 
Every  moment  of  that.terrible  interview  on  board  the  steamer 
had  made  a  vital  impression  on  her  ;  but  one  memory  had  taken 


I 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  209 

a  deeper  hold  than  all  the  others.  It  was  one  that  she  could 
share  with  none  of  her  people.  How  could  she  tell  her  young 
brothers  and  sisters,  how  could  she  tell  her  father  and  mother,  of 
that  deep  mire  of  guilt  with  which  Andrew  Darryll  had  slimed 
his  soul  ?  Heart  and  tongue  would  fail  her  to  speak  of  it. 

But  Rusha  Darryll  could  not  thrust  away  from  her  the 
thought  of  those  last  moments  with  Andrew,  though  she  verily 
believed  it  defiled  her  memory  to  recall  them.  And  the  old 
shuddering  and  recoil  always  came  back  upon  her  when  she 
remembered  the  face  of  the  young  girl  who  had  followed  her 
off  the  vessel. 

And  at  last,  through  all  the  inevitable  pain  and  horror  with 
which  this  scene  returned  to  her,  there  grew  in  Rusha's  thoughts, 
so  slowly  that  she  was  unconscious  of  it  herself,  a  kind  of  shud- 
dering interest  and  pity  for  this  girl,  as  young  as  herself,  linked 
with  her  in  the  needs  of  a  common  womanhood,  with  one  God 
and  one  eternity  waiting  at  the  end  for  them  both. 

And  this  girl,  carrying  all  that  dreadful  burden  of  sin  and 
guilt  on  her  young  soul,  had  been  once  an  innocent,  pure-hearted, 
happy  little  child  like  herself.  Rusha  wondered  if  she  had  ever 
had  a  chance  in  the  world  —  a  father,  or  mother,  or  any  friend 
to  tell  her  what  was  right  or  wrong.  Perhaps,  after  all,  she 
was  not  so  much  sinning  as  sinned  against.  She  knew  that  she 
could  still  love  her  brother,  with  a  love  mighty  as  life  itself, 
through  all  her  knowledge  of  his  share  in  the  guilt ;  and  why 
should  she  visit  so  much  heavier  condemnation  on  this  girl,  who 
was  not,  perhaps,  in  the  Eye  whose  gaze  sounds  the  depths  of 
all  human  souls,  the  guiltier  of  the  two  ? 

Rusha  used  to  awake  from  thoughts  like  these.  She  was 
afraid  —  poor  child! — that  their  existence  proved  something 
wrong  in  herself —  the  common  verdict  of  society,  the  conven- 
tionalisms amid  which  she  had  been  brought  up,  so  utterly 
ignored  these  lost  souls  among  her  sex,  that  it  almost  seemed  a 
sin  even  to  pity  them.  But  one  day  Rusha  remembered  Who 
had  not  forgotten  even  these  when  He  came  with  His  glad 
tidings  for  "the  uttermost"  of  men  and  women  —  the  glad 
18* 


210  DAERYLL    GAP,    OR 

tidings  which  have  rung  down  ever  since  their  silver  sweetness 
through  all  the  tumult  and  travail  of  the  ages  ! 

And  with  that  thought  some  new  feeling  struggled  up  into  life 
beneath  all  the  associations  and  conventional  opinions  which 
overlaid  her  sentiments  on  this  subject.  The  old,  revolting  hor- 
ror with  which  she  had  shrank  on  board  the  steamer  from  the 
thought  of  that  young,  lost  thing,  was  superseded  by  a  kind  of 
yearning  pity  —  a  wish  that  she  could  do  something  for  her  help 
and  succor,  and  a  sort  of  hope  that  she  might,  so,  in  a  meas- 
ure, atone  for  her  brother's  guilt. 

Other  thoughts  followed,  in  the  train  of  this  one.  What  right 
had  she  to  visit  on  the  head  of  this  girl  a  condemnation  so  much 
heavier  than  she  did  on  her  brother?  What  an  awful  sin  lay  at 
the  door  of  her  own  sex  in  all  matters  of  this  kind !  How 
would  gentle,  pure-hearted  girls  marry  men  whose  victims  they 
held  in  such  utter  abhorrence  as  to  regard  it  a  shame  to  so 
much  as  speak  of  them !  Did  not  woman  owe  something  to 
womanhood  here,  bruised,  fallen,  defiled  though  it  was? 

And  so  the  fire  burned  secretly  in  the  soul  of  Rusha  Darryll, 
and  the  questions  laid  bare  betwixt  her  own  soul  and  God  had 
no  answer,  until  suddenly  there  came  a  time  to  prove  what  fibre 
was  in  them  —  whether  they  were  of  the  sort  that  would  only 
infloresce  in  beautiful  fancies  and  dreams,  or  whether  they 
would  ripen  into  strong,  noble  deeds. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  211 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

RUSHA  was  down  town  one  day  on  some  shopping  expedition, 
and,  quite  unusually,  alone  ;  some  trifling  engagement  of  one 
sort  and  another  having  prevented  any  of  her  family  from  ac- 
companying her. 

Having  despatched  her  errands,  she  had  just  resumed  her  seat 
in  the  carriage  for  the  drive  home,  and  the  coachman  was 
closing  the  door,  when  she  caught  a  glimpse  on  the  sidewalk  of 
two  young  girls  in  showy  bonnets,  who  the  next  moment  had 
disappeared  among  the  crowd  ;  but  in  that  swift  glance  Rusha 
had  identified  the  girl  with  the  "  rather  pretty  features,"  whom 
she  had  seen  on  board  the  steamer. 

With  that  swift  impulsiveness  which,  whether  for  good  or 
evil,  you  have  seen  was  a  part  of  her  nature,  she  burst  open  the 
door,  and  bounded  out  from  the  carriage,  calling  back  to  the 
bewildered  coachman  —  "  Stay  there  until  I  return  ;  "  and  she 
hurried  up  Broadway. 

She  was  quite  breathless  when  she  overtook  the  girls  at  last, 
and  too  excited  to  consider  her  form  of  address.  She  laid  her 
hand  on  the  shoulder  of  the  younger,  saying  —  "Won't  you 
come  with  me  a  moment?  I  have  something  of  importance  to 
say  to  you." 

The  girl  thus  addressed  started  in  amazement,  and  glanced 
up  at  Rusha's  face.  It  was  evident  that  she,  too,  recognized 
her,  by  her  scared  look,  as  she  shrank  back,  and  faltered  out,  in 
a  frightened  way  —  "  You  must  excuse  me  from  going  with  you  ; 
I  haven't  time  this  morning." 

"  O,  but  I  beg  that  you  will  not  refuse  me  ;  it  is  something, 
as  I  said,  very  important  to  us  both,  and  I  may  never  have 
another  chance  to  see  you.  Do  come  !  You  will  not  be  sorry, 
I  think." 


212  DAERYLL    GAP,   OR 

Rusha's  eagerness  gave  a  force  to  her  manner  which  it  was 
hard  to  resist.  It  fairly  compelled  the  girl  against  her  own 
will,  for  there  was  certainly  reason  enough  why  she  should 
shrink  from  an  interview  with  the  sister  of  Andrew  Darryll. 

But  with  Rusha's  hand  on  her  arm,  the  girl  was  constrained 
to  yield ;  and  she  did  without  uttering  another  word,  leaving 
her  companion  standing  on  the  sidewalk,  watching  them  both, 
in  blank  amazement. 

The  first  thing  was  to  secure  some  place  for  a  private  inter- 
view ;  but  where  was  this  to  be  found?  Not  at  her  own  home, 
certainly,  where  there  would  be  no  security  from  observation. 
Rusha  turned  the  matter  rapidly  over  in  her  thoughts.  It  certain- 
ly seemed  at  first  to  present  a  formidable  difficulty ;  but  now, 
when  she  had  gained  the  chief  point,  she  would  not  be  daunted 
by  a  lesser  one.  At  last  she  remembered  a  quiet  restaurant, 
not  far  off,  where  she,  with  her  mother  and  sister,  often  ordered 
lunch  when  they  were  down  town.  It  was  easy  to  secure  a  room 
here,  wholly  to  themselves. 

Her  mind  made  up,  Rusha  led  the  way  rapidly,  and  her  com- 
panion followed,  not  speaking  a  word.  What  would  Rusha's 
family  have  done  if  they  could  have  seen  and  understood  ! 

So  they  were  alone  together,  in  the  quiet  little  alcove  cham- 
ber —  this  girl  and  the  sister  of  Andrew  Darryll !  There  was 
no  doubt  the  former  was  a  good  deal  alarmed,  for  her  cheeks 
looked  pale  through  their  delicate  rouge.  Each  took  a  seat 
mechanically,  and  turned  and  looked  at  the  other.  When  she 
had  wanted  words,  these  had  never  failed  Rusha  Darryll ;  but 
now  they  seemed  to  forsake,  her,  as  she  turned  and  looked  at 
that  girl,  and  realized  the  dreadful  gulf  betwixt  them  —  a  gulf 
across  which  she  feared  at  the  moment  her  hands  would  reach 
no  succor  nor  deliverance  —  that  girl,  sitting  there,  with  no 
more  years  than  her  own ;  but  with  that  dreadful  burden  of 
guilt  and  shame  on  her  soul.  Every  other  feeling  merged  itself 
in  the  great  tide  of  pity  which  surged  over  Rusha  Darryll. 

She  opened  her  lips  to  speak,  and  instead  she  broke  down 
and  burst  into  tears,  crying  as  though  her  heart  would  break. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  213 

"What  has  happened  —  what  is  the  matter?"  asked  her 
companion,  fairly  trembling  all  over  with  alarm. 

"  Nothing,"  answered  Rusha,  as  soon  as  she  could  command 
her  voice ;  "  only  I  was  thinking  that  you  were  once  a  pure, 
innocent,  happy  little  child,  just  as  I  was,  and  then  I  thought 
of  what  you  are  now  —  O,  of  what  you  are  now  !  "  and  lean- 
ing her  head  on  the  table,  she  sobbed  again  passionately. 

Something  went  over  the  girl's  face  —  a  quick  flash  —  not 
exactly  pain,  nor  terror,  nor  remorse,  but  all  these  together, 
and  then  Rusha  heard  a  cry  —  a  wail  —  a  sound  such  as  she 
had  never  heard  in  all  her  life  before,  and  that  she  felt  she  must 
hear  some  time  again  through  all  her  life  that  was  to  be,  for  she 
knew  it  was  that  girl's  lost  womanhood  wailing  out  its  remorse, 
and  anguish,  and  despair. 

She  would  have  been  less  than  woman  if  she  could  have  lis- 
tened unmoved  ;  but  having  the  heart  of  Rusha  Darryll,  that  cry 
went  down  to  the  very  quick  of  its  pity.  She  forgot  what  the 
girl  before  her  was  —  forgot  the  wrong  she  had  done  to  her 
and  hers,  and  only  felt  as,  after  all,  woman  should  feel  for 
woman,  however  lost  and  Denied ;  and  when  she  heard  that 
dreadful  weeping  —  such  a  wild,  awful  misery  in  every  sob  — 
Rusha  could  not  speak  a  word,  but  cried  too.  At  last  the  other 
shrieked  out,  — 

"  O,  I  wish  I  was  dead  —  I  wish  I  was  dead  !  " 

It  was  awful,  the  way  she  wrung  her  hands. 

"  No,  you  don't ;  no,  you  don't,"  said  Rusha,  turning  towards 
her,  her  face  all  adrip  with  tears.  "  You  want  to  live  to  re- 
pent." 

"  Repent !  "  said  the  girl,  and  her  voice  seemed  to  echo  far 
down  the  dreary  depths  of  her  soul.  "  As  if  there  was  any 
repentance  for  such  as  /  am  !  " 

"  Yes,  there  is,"  the  trembling  eagerness  of  her  voice  sur- 
mounting her  tears.  "  I  tell  you  there  is  —  and  yet  not  I,  but 
He  who  came  into  the  world  to  speak  forgiveness  and  welcome 
to  just  such  as  you  are  —  and  all  the  world  cannot  take  that 
away  from  you." 


214  DAEEYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  But  they  do  take  it  away  from  us ! "  she  said,  turning 
fiercely  upon  Rusha.  "  You  know  there  isn't  a  decent  woman 
in  the  world  that  would  be  seen  speaking  to  me  to-day  —  there 
isn't  one  who,  knowing  what  I  am,  would  take  me  into  her 
kitchen  and  let  me  work  from  morning  until  night  for  bread 
and  shelter,  and  so  give  me  a  chance  for  a  better  life  !  " 

"  Yes,  there  is.  Don't  say  that.  There  is  nothing  that  I 
would  not  do — nothing  I  possess  in  the  world  which  I  would 
not  give  to  save  you." 

The  girl  saw  it  in  Rusha's  face,  for  in  that  fine  exaltation  of 
pity  to  which  she  had  been  carried,  Rusha  Darryll  meant  every 
word  that  she  said. 

"  Do  you  know  who  I  am?"  asked  the  girl,  her  voice  shaded 
with  shame  or  fear. 

"  Yes,  Andrew  told  me  ;  and  —  and  it  is  the  thought  of  him, 
too,  that  has  made  me  long  to  find  you  and  help  you  out  of  this 
dreadful  life." 

The  girl  was  moved  now.  She  leaned  her  face  down  on  her 
hand,  and  a  groan  slid  out  of  her  lips  —  such  a  slow,  wretched 
groan ! 

Then  Rusha  went  over  and  sat  down  by  her  side,  and  took 
her  hand  as  friend  and  equal  might  take  another's. 

"  Tell  me,  what  is  your  name?  " 

"  Jane  Maxwell." 

"  You  must  be  very  young  yet  —  not  so  old  as  I,  perhaps?" 

"  Not  yet  twenty-two." 

And  so  Rusha  drew  out  of  the  girl  the  story  of  her  life.  I 
suppose  it  was  not  an  uncommon  one.  She  had  been  left 
orphaned  at  an  early  age,  and  the  distant  relatives  into  whose 
hands  she  had  fallen  had  not  been  kind  to  her.  There  was  but 
one  person  in  the  world  whom  she  had  loved,  and  that  was  a 
widowed  aunt,  whom  poverty  alone  prevented  from  taking  the 
child  to  her  home,  and  being  in  all  respects  a  mother  to  her. 

At  last  she  went  to  learn  a  trade  — you  must  remember  what 
her  training  had  been  ;  and  she  was  a  foolish,  giddy,  light-hearted 
thing  at  the  best,  and  with  a  face  just  pretty  enough  to  be  a 
snare  to  her. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  215 

She  was  thrown  among  circumstances  which  stimulated  all 
her  vanity  and  love  of  admiration,  active  enough  at  any  time, 
and  there  was  no  one  to  warn  her  of  dangers  lying  in  wait  all 
about  her  youth.  At  last  the  rather  pretty  face  and  coquettish 
ways  attracted  a  man  younger  in  years  than  he  was  in  vice, 
and  —  you  have  the  whole  story. 

Wise,  after  his  master,  the  devil,  in  all  the  arts  which  could 
win  the  faith  of  a  simple,  country  girl,  this  villain  succeeded 
in  inducing  the  girl,  under  solemn  promises  of  matrimony,  to 
elope  with  him. 

His  object  gained,  in  a  few  weeks  he  tired  of  his  victim,  and 
Jane  Maxwell  awoke  to  a  sense  of  the  height  from  which  she 
had  fallen.  Maddened,  desperate,  alone  in  a  great  city,  the 
feeling  of  lost  self-respect  eating  with  its  slow  fire  into  brain 
and  heart,  no  friends  to  take  in  the  poor  bruised  soul,  bind  up 
its  wounds,  and  save  it  from  plunging  into  lower  deeps.  There 
is  no  need  that  the  rest  should  be  told  —  if  it  were  only  as  I 
said,  a  less  common  one. 

For  the  man  who  had  wrought  this  girl's  ruin  —  his  charac- 
ter and  position  in  the  world  were  in  no  wise  affected  by  it. 
Fair  women  —  good  women,  as  the  world  goes  —  smiled  on  him, 
showered  on  him  flattering  attentions,  and  at  last  he  took  to 
wife,  with  bridal  feast  and  splendid  ceremonial  of  marriage 
rites,  the  daughter  of  a  retired  banker  on  Fifth  Avenue.  If 
that,  too,  were  only  less  "  common  "  ! 

And  yet,  so  surely  as  there  is  a  God  sitting  in  Heaven,  and 
keeping  His  long  watch  over  the  wronged  and  the  lonely,  that 
girl's  lost  womanhood  shall  rise  up  in  awful  condemnation 
against  the  black  crime  which  went  unrebuked  among  men  and 

O  •* 

women  ! 

Rusha  Darryll  listened  to  the  poor  thing  in  silence,  her  whole 
soul  torn  within  her  betwixt  pity,  indignation,  and  horror. 

When  Jane  Maxwell  was  done,  Rusha  rose  up,  and  in  the 
great  passion  of  her  pity,  with  the  tears  flowing  over  her  cheeks, 
she  seized  both  of  the  girl's  hands.  "  What  can  I  do  for  you, 
my  poor  child?  I  am  ready  for  anything.  O,  I  must — I 
will  save  you  !  " 


21 G  DARRYLL    GAP,    Oil 

Jane  Maxwell  looked  at  her  a  moment  —  a  look  that  Rusha 
never  forgot ;  then  she  cried  out  —  "  Are  you  a  woman  or  an 
angel,  sent  of  God  to  help  me  ?  " 

"  Nothing,"  said  Rusha,  with  another  burst  of  tears,  "  but  a 
poor  sinner  like  yourself.  I  dare  not  think  that  in  your  case  I 
should  have  been  any  wiser  —  any  better.  But  O,  believe  me, 
as  though  I  was  that  angel  sent  of  God  direct  from  Heaven,  to 
tell  you  that  there  is  a  way  of  escape  out  of  this  horrible  life. 
You  would  be  glad  to  leave  it,  wouldn't  you  ?  "  voice  and  face 
full  of  beseeching,  as  though  for  her  own  life. 

"  Yes,  I  would — God  knows  I  would,"  sobbed  Jane  Max- 
well. "  But  I  haven't  a  friend  in  this  whole  city,  and  you  don't 
know  the  snares  that  lie  all  around  such  as  I  am ;  and  when 

one's  self-respect  is  lost  —  when  that  is  all  lost "  She  did 

not  get  any  farther. 

"  See  here !  "  interposed  Rusha,  her  faculties  all  alert,  her 
thoughts  clear,  bright,  active  —  "  you  must  get  straight  out  of 
this  city.  Fly  from  it,  I  beseech  you,  as  you  would  from  fire 
and  from  death  close  upon  you.  I  entreat  you,  for  the  sake  of 
the  lost  womanhood  you  may  yet  regain,  for  the  sake  of  your 
immortal  soul,  leave  this  city  before  the  day  is  over.  Is  there 
nobody  in  the  world  to  whom  you  can  go  ?  " 

A  ray  of  hope,  the  first  Rusha  had  seen  there,  struggled  into 
the  face,  all  broken  up  with  tears.  "  Yes,  if  I  could  go  back 
to  aunt  Hetty,  and  lay  my  head  in  her  lap,  and  tell  her  all  that 
I'd  been,  I  know  she  wouldn't  send  me  away  ;  she'd  help  me  to 
become  a  good  woman  again  ;  but  then  she's  a  poor  widow, 
you  see,  and  I  couldn't  throw  myself  a  burden  on  her,  when  she 
has  to  work  for  her  own  living.  I  used  to  think  I  should  make 
money  enough  at  my  trade  some  day,  to  pay  off  the  mortgage 
on  the  little  house,  which  would  set  aunt  Hetty  up  like  a  queen, 
for  it's  been  the  nightmare  of  her  life  since  uncle  died ;  but 
that  can  never  be  now  ;  never  —  never  !  "  the  old  despair  coming 
into  her  face  again,  and  its  wail  mounting  into  her  voice. 

"  How  much  was  the  mortgage?"  asked  Rusha,  quickly. 

"  Just  fifteen  hundred  dollars.     I  had  a  letter  from  her  tfo 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  217 

other  day, — for  she  don't  know  what  I've  become,  — and  she  said 
she'd  paid  up  the  interest  so  far,  but  it  was  the  last  year  that 
she  could  strain  soul  and  body  to  do  it,  and  the  house  would 
have  to  go,  and  she  should  have  no  shelter  for  her  old  age.  It 
almost  broke  my  heart  to  read  that !  "  crying  drearily  again. 

Rusha  turned  and  walked  quickly  up  and  down  the  room,  not 
speaking.  Fifteen  hundred  dollars  was  a  sum  that  she  could 
never  command  at  one  time.  What  she  did  must  be  done 
quickly,  and  how  was  she  to  raise  this  money  on  the  instant? 
But  the  girl  sitting  there  MUST  be  saved.  Suddenly  it  flashed 
across  her  that  the  diamond  set  she  wore  that  morning  —  her 
father's  Christmas  gift  —  cost  just  that  sum.  She  knew  a  jewel- 
ler to  whom  she  could  dispose  of  the  diamonds  at  their  value, 
and  who  would  keep  her  secret.  She  turned  back  to  the  girl  in 
a  moment.  "  Jane  Maxwell,"  she  said,  standing  still  before 
her,  "  will  you  promise  me,  as  before  God,  that  if  I  will  raise 
this  money  for  your  aunt,  you  will  not  linger  another  day  — 
not  another  hour,  in  this  city  —  that  you  will  not  so  much  as 
return  to  the  place  whence  you  came,  nor  see  one  of  your  old  com- 
panions —  that  you  will  break  away  from  them  now  and  forever, 
and  take  the  very  next  train  to  your  aunt?" 

And  Jane  Maxwell  made  her  promise.  I  think  no  one  who 
saw  her  face  at  that  moment  ivould  have  doubted  that  she  meant 
to  keep  it. 

"  Stay  here  ;  I  shall  not  be  gone  long."  Rusha  went  out, 
pausing  in  the  hall  a  moment  to  tear  the  diamonds  from  her 
ears,  and  feeling  that  the  flame  of  the  jewels  would  burn,  as  it 
were  fire,  into  her  own  soul,  whenever  she  looked  at  them, 
remembering  that  they  might  have  saved  that  girl  from  death. 

Rusha  was  hardly  absent  ten  minutes ;  when  she  returned, 
she  walked  straight  up  to  Jane  Maxwell.  "There  is  the 
money,"  she  said,  "  to  pay  your  aunt's  mortgage.  You  see  I 
have  trusted  you,  Jane  —  fully,  absolutely  —  in  spite  of  all 
which  you  know  they  say  of  women  once  lost  —  that  they  can 
lever  be  believed ;  that,  as  they  can  have  no  faith  in  their  own 

amises,  so  neither  can  others.  It  is  not  likely  that  we  shall 
19 


218  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

ever  meet  again  ;  but  remember  this  :  I  call  God  to  witness  be- 
twixt you  and  me,  standing  here  this  hour  together,  that  because 
of  my  brother's  sin,  and  for  your  own  sake  also,  I  opened  the 
door  to  you'for  escape —  I  showed  you  the  way  to  take  up  your 
soiled  womanhood,  and  make  it  pure,  and  good,  and  noble  again, 
and  that  if  you  turn  back  to  the  ways  which  He  has  told  you 
take  hold  on  death  and  hell,  the  sin  will  lie  at  your  own  door ; 
I  have  done  all  that  lies  in  my  power  to  save  you." 

She  spoke  solemnly,  as  an  angel  might,  standing  there,  made 
calm  by  the  very  heat  and  glow  of  her  emotions. 

And  as  though  an  angel  was  speaking  as  Jane  Maxwell  list- 
ened, and  when  she  answered  she  spoke  as  solemnly  as  Rusha. 

"  You  will  trust  me  —  you  do  believe  me  !  "  —  her  face  ashy 
pale,  but  looking  straight  at  her  companion. 

"  Yes,  I  do,  Jane  —  I  believe  you  will  do  what  you  say  ;  " 
and  forgetting  who  she  was,  she  bent  down  and  kissed  the  girl. 

Then  Jane  Maxwell  sank  down  at  Eusha's  feet  in  a  great, 
passionate  fit  of  weeping. 

"  Will  you  kiss  me  — me,  the  poor,  vile,  degraded  thing  that 
I  am  —  knowing,  too,  what  I  have  been  to  your  brother?  Now 
I  know  that  you  are  an  angel,  for  no  mere  woman  would  have 
done  that !  "  and  she  clung  sobbing  to  her  feet. 

A  few  moments  later,  Rusha  went  out.  The  coachman  had 
been  chafing  with  impatience  for  more  than  an  hour  ;  but  when 
he  looked  in  his  young  mistress's  face,  he  saw  she  had  been  cry- 
ing, and  said  nothing,  although  he  pondered  the  matter  through 
all  the  drive  home,  without  getting  any  new  light.  I  do  not 
know,  reader,  what  you  may  think  of  all  this,  but  I  do  know 
that  Rusha  Darryll  will  not  be  ashamed  of  that  morning's  work 
when  she  stands  before  God  and  His  angels ! 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  219 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE  Darrylls  had  braved  the  world  and  come  out  victorious, 
the  inward  conflict  being  known  only  to  themselves  ;  so  results 
had  proved  the  wisdom  of  the  course  which  Ella  had  advised 
for  the  family. 

There  was  a  fresh  buzz  of  gossip  and  animadversion  when  the 
Darrylls  first  reappeared  among  people,  and  their  ten  thousand 
friends  wondered  "  how  they  could  have  the  face  to  show  them- 
selves outside  of  their  own  door ;  "  but  it  often  chanced  that 
those  who  were  loudest  in  their  denunciations  were  the  first  to 
affect  the  society  of  the  Darrylls  ;  and  those  who  could  not, 
shook  their  heads  lugubriously,  and  remai'ked  that  "  the  old 
man's  money  would  carry  them  through.  What  a  burning 
shame  it  was  that  riches  would  sustain  one  in  any  crime  in  this 
world !  "  and  all  the  old  stock  talk  of  that  sort,  in  which,  no 
doubt,  was  considerable  truth,  with  an  admixture  of  other  ele- 
ments. 

The  family  gravitated  back  into  the  former  channels  of  think- 
ing, feeling,  living.  The  old  forces  and  habits  resumed  their 
attractions  over  each,  and,  to  a  superficial  observer,  Andrew's 
crime  and  its  effects  had  wrought  no  change  in  the  character  of 
the  household.  It  is  true  that  the  mother-heart  of  Mrs.  Darryll 
never  ceased  to  yearn  after  the  eldest  of  her  sons,  and  indeed 
he  was  held  in  a  kind  of  pitying,  shuddering  remembrance 
by  all. 

Mr.  Darryll  was  absorbed  in  making  money,  as  before,  and 
everything  seemed  to  prosper  to  which  he  set  his  hand.  Ella 
\vas  once  more  deep  in  a  whirl  of  fashionable  gayeties,  and 
Agnes  restive  under  school  discipline,  with  the  example  of  her 
elder  sister  constantly  before  her  eyes.  Tom  was  shooting  up 


220  DARRTLL    GAP,   OR 

into  slender  young  manhood,  holding  diligently  by  his  studies  in 
spite  of  the  strong  tide  of  circumstances  which  set  against  them. 

Rusha's  favorite  brother  was  certainly  the  most  promising  of 
John  Darryll's  sons,  and  he  grew  day  by  day  in  some  new 
thoughtfulness  and  manliness,  which  justified  his  sister's  pride 
in  him. 

Guy  grumbled  inwardly  at  the  "  sharp  eye  the  governor  kept 
on  all  his  movements ;  "  but  he  confined  the  expression  of  his 
sentiments  to  Tom,  who  did  not  manifest  any  active  sympathy 
with  them. 

As  for  Rusha,  you  will  not  suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  she 
held  herself  in  that  fine  exaltation  of  feeling  and  deed,  to  whose 
height  we  have  seen  she  had  risen  for  one  hour  of  her  life. 

Alas  !  she  had  one  of  those  natures  that  have  a  fatal  tendency 
to  sink  into  moods  and  depressions.  She  was  by  no  means  a 
symmetrical,  well-balanced  character.  She  did  not  understand 
the  laws  of  her  own  being.  She  was  chafed,  restless,  dis- 
gusted with  herself  and  everybody  about  her,  groping  her 
slow  way  out  of  illusions  of  all  sorts,  dragged  down  by  the 
gravitation  of  her  family,  and  in  a  dim  way  conscious  of  all  this, 
and  yet  not  knowing  how  to  resist  the  attraction  ;  sensitive  to  all 
atmospheres,  whether  physical  or  personal ;  her  mood  taking  its 
tone  from  the  color  of  the  day,  or  the  state  of  the  weather ; 
lacking  internal  harmony,  full  of  swift  irritations  and  little  petu- 
lances ;  and  so,  though  she  was  of  a  vastly  profounder  and  more 
lovable  nature  than  Ella,  she  was  at  times  a  much  less  com- 
fortable home  companion,  for  the  things  which  overcame  the 
elder  sister  did  not  have  a  feather's  weight  with  the  younger ; 
and  Ella's  health  and  spirits  were  always  of  that  strong,  buoy- 
ant sort,  which  inheres  in  temperaments  like  hers  ;  and  there 
was  often  some  ground  afforded  by  Rusha's  conduct  for  the 
comment,  which,  nevertheless,  partook  of  the  younger  sister's 
usual  extravagance  of  remark,  — 

"  I  declare,  Rusha,  you  are  such  a  bear  to-day,  there  is  no 
living !  " 

"  Am  I  as  cross  as  Ella  says,  Tom?"  asked  the  young 


WUETIIEli  IT  PAID.  221 

turning  to  her  brother,  as  her  sister  left  the  room,  after  the  de- 
livery of  one  of  these  unflattering  opinions. 

He  looked  at  her  a  flash  of  covert  amusement  in  his  eyes 
at  her  downright  way  of  getting  at  the  matter. 

"  Pretty  cross  —  that's  a  fact ;  but  somehow  I  never  mind  it." 

Eusha  sat  down,  rested  her  cheek  on  her  hand,  her  face  in  a 
shadow  —  partly  thoughtfulness,  partly  self-reproach. 

"  It  isn't  right,  Tom,  and  I  know  it,  to  be  the  fretful  thing  I 
am.  But  you  see  it's  the  living  that  tries  me.  I  suppose  it 
does  everybody,  more  or  less  ;  but  my  sympathies,  ideas,  tastes, 
are  so  goaded  and  outraged,  and  these  dark,  dreadful  moods 
come  upon  me  like  an  armed  man,  and  I  seem  to  have  no 
power  to  resist  them,  and  I  sink  down,  down  where  there  is 
neither  warmth  nor  light,  into  damp,  crawling  mists,  whose  chill 
strikes  to  the  very  marrow  of  all  my  hopes  and  aspirations  ;  and 
I  am  so  dreary,  so  wretched  at  such  times,  without  any  faith  in 
God  or  hope  in  man,  that  it  almost  seems  as  though  the  best 
thing  I  could  do  was  to  lie  right  down  and  die  !  " 

"  O,  Rusha,  I  tell  you,"  said  Tom,  a  good  deal  impressed 
with  the  suffering  of  a  temperament  which,  with  his  widely  dif- 
ferent mental  constitution,  he  could  only  dimly  comprehend ; 
"  it's  the  blue  devils  got  hold  of  you.  That  lies  at  the  bottom 
of  the  whole  thing,  —  depend  on  it.  Awful  fellows  they  are 
too  ;  had  a  touch  of  'em  sometimes  myself.  Don't  they  make 
the  world  look  black,  though?" 

"  No,  Tom,"  shaking  her  head  sadly,  and  realizing  how  far 
this  kindly  but  bungling  attempt  at  comforting  her  was  from 
reaching  the  core  of  the  grief;  "  it  isn't  what  you  say,  nor  it 
isn't  so  much  in  the  world,  as  it  is  in  myself  that  the  trouble  lies. 
I  know  it  all  the  time,  and  sometimes  I  think  I  should  really  be 
better  if  I  had  no  high  ideals  for  myself  or  anybody  else,  but  was 
just  satisfied  with  things  as  they  are,  like  mother  and  Ella. 
Sometimes  I  really  envy  them,  and  wish  I  was  like  them." 

"  I  don't,  though  —  Jehoshaphat !  "  said  Tom. 

His  tone  and  glance  were  unmistakable.  They  brought  out 
Kusha's  laugh,  in  all  its  native  merriment,  the  swift  changes 
19* 


222  DAREYLL   GAP,    OR 

of  her  moods  indicating  the  fine,  intense,  but  undisciplined 
nature  that  through  all  these  things  was  still  coming  into 
the  light  —  into  the  light,  as  one  might  have  seen  by  her  next 
remark. 

"  And  then,  Ton>,  when  I  think  of  all  the  blessings  that  sur- 
round me  —  how  I  have  wealth,  leisure,  luxury  of  every  sort  — 
how  many  there  are  in  the  world  who  really  envy  me,  it  seems 
so  ungrateful  to  go  around  mood}',  cross,  disgusted  generally. 
You  know  who  it  is  that  says  to  us,  '  Be  ye  thanlcful ;  '  and  I  am 
sure  that  means  a  cheerful,  grateful  spirit." 

"  I  never  thought  of  it  before  —  yes,  I  see  it  must,  Rusha." 

"  O,  dear !  "  drawing  the  monosyllables  out  on  a  long  sigh. 
Tom  partially  understood  what  it  meant,  and  his  next  remark 
showed  that  some  new  leaven  had  been  working  in  him  too. 

"  I  suppose,  Rusha,  people  who  really  want  to  be  good  are 
generally  less  satisfied  than  those  who  don't  trouble  themselves 
about  it  at  all." 

"  It's  very  consoling  to  my  self-love  to  have  you  put  it  in 
that  light,  Tom,  you  dear  fellow,  only,"  —  an  arch  smile  flashing 
again  out  of  the  gravity  of  her  face,  —  "I  don't  believe  it  Avould 
be  easy  to  convert  Ella  to  that  theory !  But,  Tom,  the  truth 
must  stand  against  me  —  that  is  no  sufficient  excuse  for  my 
moods  and  tempers.  If  I  had  only  found  the  key  to  them ! " 

Still,  as  you  see,  "  poor  Rusha  "  —  so  many  of  her  life's 

"  Sweet  bells  jangled,  out  of  tune  and  harsh," 

and  she  not  comprehending  the  laws  of  her  own  being,  nor 
knowing  that  deeper  love  and  faith  which  would  have  soothed 
into  harmony  so  many  of  the  grating  discords. 

Less  than  a  week  after  the  above  conversation  the  Darryll 
family  mustered  in  strong  force  one  evening  at  the  opera,  in 
order  to  hear  some  new  prima-donna  that  Ella  insisted  their 
"  whole  set  was  raving  about." 

The  next  morning,  at  breakfast,  while  the  whole  affair  was 
under  discussion,  Ella  suddenly  broke  out  with,  — 

"  What  in  the  world  is  the  reason,  Rusha,  that  you  always 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  223 

wear  your  mosaics  now-a-days?  I  noticed  last  night  that  you 
didn't  have  your  diamonds  on,  when  it  was,  of  all  places,  the 
one  to  show  them  off;  and  it  was  just  so  at  the  bridal  recep- 
tion we  attended  together.  People  who  own  diamonds  are 
expected  to  show  them." 

"  "Well,  you  wear  yours  enough  for  both  of  us." 

In  her  embarrassment  Rusha  had  spoken  the  first  words  that 
suggested  themselves  to  her.  They  were  no  sooner  out  than 
she  saw  the  weakness  of  her  defence.  Ella  naturally  availed 
herself  of  it. 

"  Well,  that  is  smart !  The  argument  would  apply  equally 
well,  to  everything  I  do  wear.  Now,  that  is  not  the  reason, 
Rusha,  that  you  have  left  off  your  diamonds  !  " 

She  saw  that  everybody  at  the  table,  attracted  by  the  imper- 
ativeness of  Ella's  tone,  was  listening.  She  was  not  good  at 
disguises,  and  the  truth  might  as  well  come  out  now  as  ever. 

"I  —  I've  disposed  of  them  !  " 

Surprise  held  everybody  at  the  table  silent  for  a  moment  or 
two. 

"  Disposed  of  your  diamonds,  Rusha  —  pa's  Christmas  gift !  " 
rejoined  Ella. 

"  Well,  I  never ! "  ejaculated  Mrs.  Darryll ;  and  she  laid 
down  her  knife  and  fork. 

"  Eusha,"  said  her  father,  sternly,  "  what  have  you  done 
with  your  diamonds  ?  " 

She  burst  out  suddenly  into  passionate  weeping. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,  pa,"  she  sobbed  ;  "  only  something  came 
to  my  knowledge  which  compelled  me  to  let  them  go,  when  it 
would  have  been  an  awful  sin  to  keep  them ;  and  I  shall  be 
glad  I  did  just  what  I  did  all  my  life,  and  when  I  come  to 
lie  on  my  death  bed,  it  will  be  the  sweetest  memory  I  have, 
although  I  can  never  tell  you  what  it  is  —  never  —  that  lies 
betwixt  God,  and  one  other,  and  me  !  " 

There  fell  a  great  silence  around  the  breakfast-table.  Each 
Stared  at  the  other  in  a  kind  of  blank  amaze,  and  then  the 
whole  family  looked  towards  Mr.  Darryll  to  speak.  He  was 


224  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

evidently,  like  the  others,  perplexed  and  impressed.  Rusha's  act 
was  so  unprecedented  a  one  that  he  did  not  know  how  to  deal 
with  it.  It  was  on  too  vast  a  scale  to  be  treated  as  a  folly  or  a 
rashness,  and  her  way  of  setting  the  act  in  the  light  of  a  solemn 
duty  prevented  him  from  coming  down  on  her  with  a  storm  of 
indignation,  as  on  some  unparalleled  disobedience.  But  she 
ought  to  have  consulted  him  ;  she  had  clearly  no  right  to  part 
with  her  diamonds  without  asking  his  permission. 

On  the  impulse  of  this  thought,  Mr.  Darryll  opened  his  lips 
to  address  her  sternly,  but  then  Rusha  was  his  favorite  child, 
and  the  part  she  had  acted  in  Andrew's  affair  had  not  only 
increased  his  affection,  but  vastly  enhanced  his  respect  for  the 
judgment  of  the  eldest  daughter.  And  as  all  this  suddenly 
swept  across  the  father,  he  answered,  half  against  his  will,  — 

"  Well,  Rusha,  I  always  supposed  you  were  a  girl  of  sense 
until  this  morning.  I  don't  know  what  to  make  of  all  this. 
Have  you  gone  suddenly  crazy,  my  child  ?  "  for  he  heard  her 
sobs  again,  and  they  touched  some  tenderness  down  deep  in  the 
heart  of  John  Darryll. 

"  O,  no,  pa ;  letting  those  diamonds  go  was  the  sauest  thing 
that  ever  I  did  !  " 

And  then,  because  she  could  not  bear  that  they  should  all 
witness  her  agitation,  she  rose  up  and  left  the  room. 

*'  John,  what  does  it  all  mean?"  ejaculated  Mrs.  Darryll, 
turning  to  her  husband. 

"  I  don't  know  what  that  girl  is  corning  to  —  giving  away 
her  diamonds !  "  exclaimed  Ella,  the  momentary  impression 
which  her  sister's  speech  and  manner  had  made  vanishing  be- 
fore this  appalling  fact. 

"  Now,  I  say,"  said  Tom,  "  I  think  you'd  better  not  plague 
her  about  it.  Rusha  isn't  anybody's  fool  —  I  should  think  we'd 
all  had  proof  enough  of  that  not  long  ago  ;  and  what  she's  done 
she's  had  a  good  reason  for,  strange  as  it  looks,  I'll  be  bound." 

Nobody  volunteered  any  reply  to  this  remark ;  but  it  must 
have  coincided  with  some  secret  feeling  of  the  father,  for  ii 
few  moments  he  added,  — 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  225 

"  Well,  the  thing's  done,  and  it  can't  be  helped.  You'd  better 
not  bother  her  any  way  about  it.  Mind  what  I  say,  now." 

John  Darryll's  fiat  was  by  no  means  absolute  in  his  own 
household,  but  thereafter  none  of  her  family  alluded  to  the  dia- 
monds. Something  in  Rusha's  manner  that  morning  at  the 
breakfast-table  made  each  feel  that  any  attempt  to  draw  from 
her  her  secret  would  be  useless. 

At  last,  after  long  waiting,  there  came  letters  from  Andrew. 
He  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  situation  in  a  banking  house  in 
Paris,  where  English  was  required,  and  his  position,  he  affirmed, 
was,  in  every  respect,  quite  as  pleasant  as  he  had  dared  to  hope. 

On  the  whole,  the  tone  of  the  letters  was  encouraging,  even 
to  Rusha,  who  knew  Andrew's  inherent  moral  weaknesses,  and 
where  his  perils  lay,  better  than  any  of  the  rest  of  the  family. 
Still  his  repentance  seemed  genuine.  Nothing  but  that,  it 
seemed,  could  have  wrung  such  confessions  from  the  youth, 
boastful,  arrogant,  conceited,  which  went  to  make  up  so  much 
of  all  their  memories  of  Andrew. 

No  one  of  the  family  was  forgotten  in  these  letters ;  and  it 
was  evident  that,  in  this  land  of  strangers,  Andrew  was-  learn- 
ing something  of  the  worth  of  the  home  by  whose  love  and 
care  he  had  set  so  lightly,  until  his  own  act  had  debarred  him 
from  them. 

Mrs.  Darryll  considered  Andrew's  reformation  an  absolute 
certainty,  and  Rusha  could  not  bear  to  insinuate  a  single  fear 
into  the  mother-love  that  poured  itself  out  in  the  letter  which 
she  wrote  by  the  return  steamer. 

Indeed,  that  steamer  carried  letters  from  every  member  of 
the  family,  even  to  Agnes,  who  gave  up  a  school  sleighing- 
party,  on  which  she  had  set  her  heart,  in  order  that  she  might 
write  to  "  poor  Andrew." 

Mr.  Darryll,  who  found  it  harder  than  any  of  the  others  to 
forgive  his  son's  crime,  affirmed,  when  his  wife  suggested  his 
writing,  "  that  it  wouldn't  do  Andrew  any  harm  to  chew  his 

d  of  remorse  a  little  longer."     But  he  thought  better  of  it  at 
last  moment,  for,  as  his  wife  was  closing  her  letter,  he  came 


226  DAEEYLL   GAP,   OE 

suddenly  to  her  side,  and,  taking  up  the  pen,  said  —  "I  think 
I'll  add  a  postscript  to  that."  And  its  conclusion  was  —  "  Now, 
Andrew,  keep  out  of  the  way  of  temptation ;  and  be  a  good 
boy,  my  son,  the  rest  of  your  life,  if  not  for  your  own,  for 
father's  sake." 

When  the  letters  were  all  finished,  the  young  people  read 
theirs  to  each  other,  and  Rusha's  was  unanimously  pronounced 
the  best  of  the  whole. 

But  there  was  an  enclosure  that  no  eyes  must  see,  saving 
Andrew  Darryll's.  Rusha  had  decided  that  it  was  her  duty  to 
relate  to  her  brother  all  which  had  transpired  in  her  interview 
with  Jane  Maxwell.  In  no  other  way  could  his  sin  in  its 
heinousness  be  brought  home  to  his  soul.  And  if  that  story, 
which  had  cost  his  sister  so  much  shame  and  agony,  did  not 
probe  to  its  depths  the  heart  of  Andrew  Darryll,  then  his  sis- 
ter felt  there  was  no  more  for  her  to  do,  and  for  him  there  was 
little  hope. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

ALL  this  time  the  war  was  going  on.  Afar  off"  there  came 
up  to  the  North,  alike  through  the  pleasant  summer  air  and  the 
fierce  riot  of  winter  storms,  that  long  under-wail  of  agony  and 
death.  It  rose  above  all  the  greed  and  din  of  marts  where  men 
were  making  new  "haste  to  be  rich"  —  above  all  the  mirth 
with  which  the  people  held  carousal  during  the  nation's  sweat 
and  travail  for  life  —  a  cry  that  smote  with  fear  the  heart  of  the 
hardest  and  most  sordid  of  men,  and  pierced  with  terror  through 
the  vanities  and  ambitions  of  the  weakest  and  most  selfish  of 
women ;  and  all  this  time  the  awful  cloud  of  fire  and  death 
moved  slowly  along  its  appointed  path  of  four  years,  and  in  all 
our  Northern  homes  the  death-knell  was  rung  of  the  bravest 
and  dearest.  It  was  one  of  those  times  of  great  perplexity  and 
gloom,  into  whose  dark  cloud  we  passed  so  often  —  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  had  disappointed  the  fondest  hopes  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  instead  of  returning  home  laurelled  heroes,  amid  the 
pomp  and  rejoicing  of  victory,  lay  wasting  away  the  slow 
months,  and  their  own  souls  together,  among  the  marshes  of 
Northern  Virginia. 

Mistake,  mismanagement,  and  corruption  were  working  their 
mischiefs  in  all  our  affairs,  and  it  seemed  worse  than  vain  that 
the  nation  had  poured  out  the  treasure  from  its  coffers,  the  best 
blood  from  its  veins,  like  rain. 

Of  course  the  disaffected,  and  all  those  who  judge  of  a  cause 
by  its  present  and  visible  prosperity,  had  their  day  then.  How 
they  heaped  contempt  on  the  government,  and  on  the  man  with 
the  strong  soul,  and  simple,  child-like  heart,  at  its  head  —  the 
^•i  who  bore  the  great  burdens  of  his  country  through  that 
long  uight  of  her  grief  and  shame,  and  laid  them  down  just  as 


228  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

the  day  he  had  watched  for  so  long  came  up  in  the  east,  filling 
all  the  earth  with  its  new  light ! 

When  every  family  in  the  land  talked  of  the  war,  of  course 
the  Darrylls  came  in  for  their  share ;  and  even  Ella  discussed 
militai-y  affairs  and  politics  with  as  much  fervor  as  though  this 
was  not  "  something  a  woman  had  no  business  to  meddle  with." 

The  elegant  breakfast-table  used  to  witness  some  warm  alter- 
cations betwixt  the  various  members  of  the  family,  Rusha 
having  no  reliable  support,  unless  it  was  Tom,  who,  in  every 
discussion,  manifested  a  growing  tendency  towards  his  elder 
sister's  view  of  the  subject. 

At  the  close  of  one  of  these  discussions,  which  had  been  un- 
usually animated  and  prolonged,  all  parties  having  taken  some 
part  in  it,  Ella  said,  pushing  away  her  coffee  cup,  — 

"  Well,  now,  come  to  the  real  point,  Rusha,  you  are  not  fool 
enough  to  expect  that  the  North  ever  can  conquer  the  South  ?  " 

Rusha  had  arisen  from  the  breakfast-table,  and  leaning  one 
arm  on  the  mantel,  rested  her  head  upon  it.  Her  cheeks  wore 
the  bright  bloom  which  any  excitement  always  quickened  in 
them ;  her  brown  eyes,  their  fine,  strong  fire  ;  yet  the  voice 
which  had  trembled  a  moment  before,  was  quiet  enough  now,  as 
she  answered,  steadily,  — 

"  Yes,  Ella,  I  am  fool  enough  to  believe  that,  in  my  soul,  just 
as  firmly  as  I  believe  that  yonder  sun  will  set  to-night." 

"  Well,  such  infatuation  surpasses  my  comprehension.  I 
can  only  say  it  is  amazing ! "  answered  Ella,  with  emphatic 
solemnity. 

"  That  is  simply  because  you  do  not  see  the  forces  that  are 
on  our  side  1 " 

"  What  forces,  I  should  like  to  know !     I  see  great  armies, 
that  can't,  or  won't,  or  don't  fight,  but  lie  down  there  on  the 
banks  of  the  Potomac,  inactive  through  whole  seasons.     I  hear 
plenty  of  talk  about  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  the  North 
but  you  know  well  enough  that  'our  men  have  been  beaten  mo, 
than  once  in  fair  fight  with  the  enemy." 

"  I  freely  concede  it,  Ella ;  more  than  once  or  twice. 
that  does  not  shake  my  faith." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

"  That's  because  it's  of  the  same  fanatic  sort  that's  driven  us 
into  this  war  —  faith  in  our  forces,  indeed !  " 

"  Yes,  in  the  invisible  forces  of  Truth,  and  Right,  and  Jus- 
tice —  in  the  eternal  God  Himself,  who  rules  among  the  armies 
of  men/' 

"  But  how  do  you  know  He  is  on  our  side  ;  the  South  think 
He's  on  theirs  !  "  pursued  Ella. 

"  Simply  because  He  is  the  God  that  He  is  —  that's  how  I 
know." 

Ella  did  not  seem  to  find  any  reply  to  this  remark,  and  after 
a  moment  Busha  exclaimed,  with  that  quick,  passionate  transi- 
tion of  tone  and  manner  which  inhered  in  her  temperament,  — 

"  It's  got  to  be  more  than  I  can  bear.  I've  half  a  mind  to 
run  away ! " 

"  What's  that  now,  Busha  ?  "  asked  her  father. 

"  Pa,"  turning  suddenly  upon  him,  "  would  you  like  to  hear 
the  friend  you  loved  best  on  earth  held  up  constantly  to  ridicule, 
reproach,  condemnation,  every  time  his  name  was  spoken  ?  " 

"  Well,  no ;  I  can't  say  it  would  be  especially  agreeable," 
opening  his  paper. 

"  And  I  love  my  Country  better  than  any  friend,  better  than 
my  own  life  even.  I'd  go  out  now  and  lay  that  down  gladly  to 
help  her  in  this  bitter  need,  and  it  hurts  and  harrows  my  very 
soul  to  hear  you  talk  as  you  do  every  day.  I  can't  stand  it  any 
longer,  and  I  won't !  " 

"  I  suppose  you  mean  by  that,  that  I  shan't  have  liberty  to 
express  my  opinions  in  my  own  house  !  "  said  Mr.  Darryll. 

"  No,  pa,  not  that.  The  house  is  yours,  and  of  course  I  can't 
bridle  your  tongue  ;  but,  as  I  said,  I  can't  stand  this  sort  of  talk 
any  longer.  I  can  run  off,  for  I'm  of  age." 

"  Where  will  you  go?  "    laughed  Guy. 

"  I'll  go  down  to  the  hospitals,  and  turn  nurse.  That  will  be 
the  best  thing  I  ever  did  in  my  life." 

"  O,  my  dear  child !  "  said  her  mother,  in  an  alarmed  tone. 

"  Nonsense  !  "  muttered  her  father.  Yet  he,  in  common  with 
jst  of  her  family,  had  a  feeling  that  it  would  not  do  to  goad 
20 


230  DAHRYLL   GAP,   OB 

Busha  too  far,  else  there  was  no  knowing  —  she  might  make 
her  threat  good. 

"  "What  is  the  use  of  feeling  everything  you  say,  Rusha  —  of 
entering  into  it  heart  and  soul,  as  you  always  do?  Now,  for 
my  part,  I  can  talk  all  day  without  getting  excited ;  but  the 
most  abstract  matter  seems  to  you  a  thing  of  life  and  death." 

"  That's  because  she's  a  finer  strung  instrument  than  you, 
Ella." 

"  O,  dear ! "  a  little  nettled  at  this  remark  of  Tom's.  "  Well, 
if  this  '  fine  stringing '  throws  one  into  such  qualms  over  a  little 
breakfast-table  discussion,  I'm  devoutly  thankful  I'm  not  so  deli- 
cately tuned ! " 

They  all  laughed  at  this  speech ;  but  Tom  continued,  — 

"  O,  Ella,  you're  bright  and  witty,  and  all  that,  but  you  can't 
see  through  a  mill-stone ! " 

No  great  speech  on  the  surface ;  but,  after  all,  it  would  take  a 
fathom  line  to  sound  it. 

On  the  very  same  day,  as  Rusha  was  returning  home  from  a 
drive  with  her  mother  and  Ella,  she  suddenly  caught  sight  of 
Dr.  Rochford  and  his  sisters,  standing  on  the  front  steps,  and 
evidently  taking  leave  of  a  party  of  friends.  Rusha  was  off  the 
seat  with  her  usual  impetuosity. 

"  Do  stop  the  carriage  !  "  she  cried  out,  to  the  amazement  of 
both  ladies.  "  There  are  the  Rochfords.  I  would  not  fail  to 
see  them  for  the  world." 

"  O,  is  that  it !  "  exclaimed  Ella,  settling  herself  back  resign- 
edly among  the  luxurious  cushions.  "  If  you  can  possibly  wait 
for  the  space  of  half  a  minute,  we  shall'  be  at  home,  and  avoid 
the  awkwardness  of  stopping  right  in  the  middle  of  the  street." 

Rusha  was  too  much  absorbed  to  care  for  the  irony  that 
lurked  in  her  sister's  tones. 

The  carriage  had  hardly  drawn  up  at  her  own  door  before 
she  bounded  out  of  it,  and  sprang  across  the  street,  stopping  the 
Rochfords  just  as  they  were  re-entering  the  house.  The  charj 
acter  of  her  reception  afforded  ample  proof  that  the  physic 
and  his  sisters  shared  Rusha's  pleasure  at  this  unexpe 
meeting. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  231 

Angeliue  Rochford's  face,  to  which  the  young  girl's  gaze  went 
first,  with  a  thrill  of  anxious  and  half-awed  interest,  looked 
pale  and  thin,  coming  from  its  long  service  at  the  hospitals,  but 
serener  and  happier  than  she  had  ever  seen  it  before,  Rusha 
thought. 

They  had  entered  the  parlor  now,  all  in  a  busy  hum  of  chat- 
ter, when  suddenly  the  thought  of  their  last  parting,  and  the  old, 
careless,  happy  life  at  Berry  Plains,  swept  over  Rusha,  with  the 
thought,  too,  of  all  the  shame  and  agony  through  which  she  had 
passed  since  that  time.  The  swift  rush  of  memories  overcame 
her.  She  broke  down  in  the  midst  of  some  allusion  to  that  time, 
and,  surprised  and  ashamed,  found  herself  bursting  into  tears. 

Of  course  the  Rochfords  were  acquainted  with  Andrew's 
crime,  and  they  understood  at  once  the  secret  of  Rusha's  grief; 
but  it  was  of  too  delicate  a  nature  to  admit  of  any  sympathy, 
although  each  one  would  have  given  much  to  be  allowed  to  offer 
it.  In  a  moment  she  recovered  herself. 

"  Do  forgive  me.  It  is  very  weak  ;  but  I  was  thinking  of 
those  beautiful  days  at  Berry  Plains,  and  how  happy  we  all 
were  ;  and  —  and  what  has  happened  since  !  "  the  husky  voice, 
the  refilling  eyes,  showing  the  danger  of  going  farther. 

"  But  I  have  always  found,"  said  the  doctor,  coming  as  near 
to  her  sorrow  as  he  felt  he  had  any  right  to  do,  "  that  enjoy- 
ment always  failed  with  me  of  its  highest  purpose,  if  it  did 
not  make  me  stronger  to  endure." 

She  flashed  up  to  him  the  sudden  brightness  of  her  smile. 

"  I  know  what  that  means.  I  have  never  forgotten  what 
you  said  to  me  that  day  by  the  sea-shore,  and  afterwards  it 
grew  to  have  a  new  meaning  to  me." 

Then  she  changed  the  theme  from  herself,  and  was  full  of 
eager  curiosity  about  the  hospitals,  and  the  life  there,  which 
her  friends  were  quite?  ready  to  indulge  to  any  extent. 

"  I  have  thought  of  you  sometimes  with  real  envy,"  she  said 

Angeline,  "  and  contrasted  my  own  aimless,  selfish  life  with 

>ur  heroic,  self-sacrificing  one,  until  I  have  felt  almost  ready 
with  shame.  I  have  longed  to  join  you  in  your  work 


232  DAEBTLL   GAP,   OR 

down  there ;   I'm  not  very  strong,  but  perhaps  I  .could  be  of 
some  use." 

Angeline  Rochford  looked  at  the  young,  fair,  delicate  girl, 
and  thought  of  her  splendid  home,  and  remembered  the  awful 
scenes  amid  which,  as  hospital  nurse,  she  was  daily  called  to 
pass  —  of  work  which  taxed  every  resource  of  body  and  soul 
to  the  uttermost.  She  recalled  the  ghastly  faces,  the  awful 
wounds,  the  writhing  forms,  the  fierce  shrieks.  What  could 
the  dainty  girl,  sitting  there  in  her  costly  wrappings  of  fur  and 
velvet,  do  among  scenes  like  these? 

"  O,  child,  you  don't  comprehend  —  you  could  never  stand 
it ! "  she  exclaimed. 

"  You  don't  know  the  spirit  I  am  of,  Miss  Rochford  ;  "  and 
there  flashed  up  something  in  Rusha's  face,  as  she  said  these 
words,  which  made  the  doctor  think  that  "  she  had  the  hero- 
ism in  her  —  the  heroism  that  would  not  fail,  though  it  were 
called  to  pass  through  the  dreadful  ordeal  of  the  hospitals." 

Afterward  they  talked  far  into  the  day.  Angeline  Rochford 
had  a  world  of  new  experiences  to  relate,  and  Rusha  was  never 
tired  of  listening  and  asking  questions. 

It  appeared  that  she  was  only  home  on  the  briefest  of  visits. 
Business  had  summoned  the  doctor  north,  and  he  had  insisted 
on  his  sister's  accompanying  him,  feeling  that  her  nerves  needed 
a  respite  from  the  constant  strain  which  was  brought  to  bear 
on  them,  and  he  was  meanwhile  making  the  most  of  his  short 
visit  by  earnest  appeals  among  his  friends  in  behalf  of  the 
sick  and  wounded  soldiers. 

"  O,  if  pa  could  only  hear  you ! "  Dr.  Rochford,  when  this 
fact  had  somehow  leaked  out  during  the  conversation.  "  He 
grows  terribly  excited  when  he  gets  started  off  on  politics  and 
the  general  management  of  the  war ;  but  for  all  that  he  has 
sympathy  for  the  soldiers  that  I  am  sure  you  could  reach,  if 
you  will  come  over  and  talk  with  him  awhile  this  evening." 

The  doctor's  engagements  were  numerous  and  pressing,  bul 
Rusha's   earnestness   prevailed,  and   she  went  away  with   hjfl 
promise  to  give  them  half  an  hour  that  evening. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  233 

"  Fletcher,"  said  Sicily,  after  Rusha  had  disappeared,  "  her 
father's  wealth  isn't  going  to  spoil  that  girl." 

"  I  think  not.  This  last  sharp  grief  has  wrought  a  great 
change  in  her.  I  see  it  in  her  face  —  I  feel  it  in  the  tones  of 
her  voice  even." 

"  Poor  girl !  "  added  Angeline,  "  how  my  heart  did  ache  for 
her  when  she  burst  into  those  tears  !  I  understood  what  lay  at 
the  bottom  of  them.  It  must  be  a  terrible  thing  to  have  a 
brother  disgrace  one  !  "  throwing  a  glance  of  fond  pride  in  the 
direction  of  Fletcher. 

"  There  are  no  griefs  which  strike  down  to  the  quick  of  one's 
love  and  pride  like  these  family  disgraces.  It  seems  hard  that 
our  growth  should  be  attained  through  these  bitter  trials.  God 
help  us  all,"  answered  Dr.  Rochford,  thinking  how  our  common 
humanity  needed  just  that  prayer. 

He  was  faithful  to  his  promise  ;  and  it  happened  that  he  met 
the  whole  Darryll  family  in  his  call  that  evening.  Fletcher 
Rochford's  soul  was  fired  with  one  purpose  during  his  visit 
home,  and  this  was  to  rouse  his  countrymen  into  a  sym- 
pathy which  should  take  some  form  of  practical  benevolence 
for  the  wounded  and  dying  soldiers  in  the  Washington  hos- 
pitals. 

Possessing  naturally  rare  graces  of  speech,  the  man's  whole 
soul  was  now  stirred  into  an  eloquence  and  pathos  which,  it 
seemed,  must  move  stones  themselves,  as  he  depicted  the  har- 
rowing and  melting,  the  sublime  and  touching  scenes  through 
which  he  had  so  lately  passed. 

During  that  call  he  held  every  one  of  the  Dairy  11s  spell- 
bound. Agnes  leaned  her  head  on  her  mother's  shoulder,  and 
sobbed  like  a  child,  as  she  listened  to  the  heart-rending  stories, 
and  each  of  her  brothers  coughed  suspiciously  behind^  their 
pocket-handkerchiefs. 

Even  Ella  was  lifted  quite  out  of  herself  into  the  grand  swell 
'  new  emotions  of  awe  and  pity ;  and  John  Darryll  forgot  the 
government  and  his  grumbling,  and  felt  something  akin  to  the 
stern  joy  of  sacrifice  and  heroism. 
20* 


234  [  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

When  the  doctor  ceased,  Mrs.  Darryll  spoke  with  unusual 
decision,  — 

"  Father,  you  must  do  something  for  those  men.  What  if  it 
was  one  of  our  boys  now  ! "  and  she  thought  of  Andrew. 

"Yes,  pa,"  said  the  children's  voices,  one  and  all.  "You 
must  do  something  right  off  for  those  men." 

John  Darryll  made  no  answer,  but  he  went  to  the  light,  took 
out  his  pen,  and  wrote  a  moment ;  then  he  handed  Dr.  Rochford 
a  slip  of  paper. 

"  There  is  my  check  for  a  thousand  dollars." 

This  substantial  tribute  to  the  doctor's  eloquence  was  the 
strongest  possible  proof  of  the  power  which  it  had  exercised 
over  John  Darryll. 

When  the  doctor  was  gone,  Rusha  walked  over  to  her  father, 
and  put  her  soft  cheek  down  on  his  hair,  — 

"  O,  you  are  a  dear,  good  father !"  she  said,  "  the  best  father 
in  all  the  world  !  " 

"  Yes,  John,  I  must  say  that  was  generous  in  you,"  added 
her  mother ;  "  but  I'm  glad  over  every  cent  of  it." 

"  So  am  I,"  subjoined  Ella,  forgetful  for  once  of  the  dresses 
and  jewels  about  which  her  thoughts  and  imaginations  did  so 
delight  to  flower. 

Such  sort  of  praise,  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  family,  was 
something  quite  new  to  John  Darryll,  and  it  must  be  confessed, 
very  pleasant,  and,  added  to  the  novel  satisfaction  he  experi- 
enced in  a  really  generous  act,  he  was  in  an  unusually  affable 
mood  for  that  evening. 

Tom  and  Rusha,  by  some  secret  law  of  affinity,  soon  found 
themselves  a  little  apart  from  the  others. 

"  What  a  wonderful  talker  the  doctor  is ! "  exclaimed  the 
former.  "  I  never  had  anything  fire  me  up  so  in  my  whole 
life."  * 

"  And  when  one  thinks  of  that  fair,  sweet,  delicate  Angeline 
Rochford  passing  her  days  among  such  awful  scenes !  Anc 
yet,  Tom,  I  envied  her  the  serene  peace  of  her  face  —  the  face, 
it  seemed  to  me,  that  had  grown  like  an  angel's ! " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  235 

Tom  mused  a  moment  without  speaking.   Then  he  looked  up,— 

"  Rusha,  when  one  hears  of  a  woman  like  that  going  out 
from  her  home,  and  sacrificing  every  ease  and  comfort  of  life, 
it  puts  a  fellow  like  me  to  shame." 

"  It  puts  me  to  shame,"  added  Rusha. 

"  Did  you  hear,  too,  about  that  young  fellow  that  lost  his 
arm  ?  He  was  not  so  old  as  I,  either  !  " 

Suddenly  she  comprehended  the  drift  of  his  remark.  She 
caught  him  by  the  arm,  — 

"  O,  Tom,  you  must  not  think  of  that  I  They  want  older 
and  stronger  men  than  you." 

It  was  natural  —  so  very  natural — that  it  should  seem  to  her 
that  he  was  the  last  one  to  go  ;  and  yet  it  must  have  seemed 
very  much  like  this  to  every  woman  who  gave  her  husband,  her 
son,  her  brother  to  the  war. 

Tom  did  not  answer,  but  stood  there,  with  an  unusually  se- 
rious expression  on  his  young  face. 

With  a  quick  instinct  that  it  was  wisest  to  change  the  sub- 
ject, Rusha  said  to  him  the  first  thing  which  entered  her  mind. 

"  So  you  think  Dr.  Rochford  a  wonderful  man,  do  you?" 

Tom  roused  himself. 

"  Yes  ;  what  do  you  think  of  him,  Rusha?" 

"  O,  a  great  many  things  —  all  of  them  good." 

Tom  looked  at  her  with  a  little  smile  growing  on  his  lip,  and 
a  thought  behind  the  smile. 

"  Do  you  remember,  Rusha,  what  I  said  to  you  last  summer 
at  Saratoga  —  that  I  knew  one  man  in  the  world  whom  you 
would  like?" 

"  Yes,  I  do,  Tom,  and  how  the  remark  surprised  me.  You 
promised  to  tell  me  who  that  man  was  some  time !  " 

"  I  should  think  you  would  be  good  enough  Yankee  to  guess, 
after  this  evening  !  " 

She  did  ;  he  saw  that,  the  next  moment,  by  the  sudden  thrill 
of  color  in  her  face. 

"  What  can  have  put  that  idea  into  your  head,  Tom  ?  "  she 
asked,  with  a  laugh. 


236  DAREYLL   GAP,   OR 

"  Well,  wasn't  it  true,  now?    Come,  own  up  !  " 

Her  answer  went  a  long  ways  aside  from  the  question,  and 
was  delivered  with  an  oracular  solemnity  that  was  amusing. 

"  Tom,  I  have  pretty  much  made  up  my  mind  that  I  shall 
never  be  married." 

"  O,  that's  because  the  right  fellow  hasn't  come  along.  Girls 
always  talk  so,"  his  tone  slightly  unsympathetic. 

"And  I  don't  think  he  will  be  very  likely  to.  Looking 
abroad  in  the  world,  I  see  the  women  who  have  the  loftiest  and 
finest  ideals  of  your  sex,  of  manly  nobleness,  and  gentleness, 
and  loyalty,  find  them  where  most  beautiful  things  are  found  — 
in  poems  and  stories." 

"  But,  after  all,  that  isn't  an  answer  to  my  question  !  "  perti- 
naciously returning  to  the  first  charge. 

But  he  did  not  succeed  in  getting  any  more  definite  one  from 
Rush  a  that  night. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


237 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

SOME  weeks  after  Dr.  Rochford's  brief  visit  to  New  York, 
Rusha  and  Ella  Darryll  attended  a  large  party.  The  lat- 
ter was,  of  course,  in  her  element  —  dancing,  playing,  flirting 
with  her  various  admirers,  and  always  having  a  train  of  these 
wherever  she  moved.  She  was  looking  uncommonly  well  that 
evening,  too.  The  excitement  of  a  party  always  gave  that 
peculiar  sparkle  and  brilliancy  to  eyes  and  cheek  which  brought 
out  her  beauty  to  the  finest  advantage. 

With  Rusha  it  was  entirely  different.  She  did  not  keep  her 
best  face  for  parties  ;  indeed,  it  was  quite  apt  to  wear  there  its 
dreariest,  coldest  look,  and  in  consequence,  Ella  often  passed 
for  far  the  handsomer  of  the  two  sisters,  which  in  reality  she 
was  not. 

Something,  made  up  of  all  the  influences  of  the  place,  the 
music,  the  crowd,  the  flashing  of  lights,  the  hum  of  voices,  the 
glare  of  splendor,  grated  harshly  on  Rusha's  mood  that  even- 
ing. That  gloom,  and  dreariness,  that  general  sinking  of  soul, 
which  she  had  so  pathetically  described  to  Tom,  swept  its  cold 
tide  over  her  now. 

Wearied  and  disgusted  with  the  frivolous  chatter  of  a  group 
of  young  gentlemen  and  ladies  among  which  she  had  been 
thrown,  Rusha  managed  to  detach  herself  from  her  company 
and  ensconce  herself  on  an  ottoman,  where,  with  her  face  locked 
up  in  a  strange  stillness,  and  a  little  paler  than  usual,  she  looked 
out  on  the  scene. 

"  What  a  miserable  farce  life  was !  "  she  said  to  herself. 
"  Just  as  pitiable  as  the  scene  before  her,  where  the  faces  were 
all  masks,  hiding  heartaches  and  burnings  underneath ;  hiding 
worse  than  that  —  petty  ambitions,  and.  small  jealousies,  aud 
envies,  and  hatreds. 


DAEEYLL    GAP,   OR 

"  What  did  all  these  people  make  of  life  ;  what  heroisms 
exalted,  what  purposes  sanctified  it ;  what  outlooks  did  they 
ever  take  into  that  eternity  that  was  closing  them  in  on  every 
side,  and  that  so  surely  as  there  was  a  God  in  heaven  who 
could  not  lie,  held  such  close  and  long  relations  with  time? 
What  right  had  they  to  be  in  the  world  wasting  their  time  on 
such  miserable  frivolities  —  what  right  had  she,  indeed,  to  be 
here,  who  was  no  better  than  they,  only  a  mere  discontented 
dreamer  ? 

"  After  all,  she  didn't  see  that  she  could  make  anything  better 
out  of  life  than  these  people  whom  she  despised.  What  was 
the  use  of  struggling  against  her  fate?  Perhaps  the  best  thing 
was  to  get  up  and  return  to  her  party,  and  join  in  the  pretty, 
shallow  talk  that  really  went  no  deeper  than  a  parrot's." 

Then  she  wished  that  she  knew  some  true,  noble  souls  of 
men  or  women  —  that  she  could  sit  and  listen  to  some  stimula- 
tive, inspiring  talk  from  warm,  earnest,  helpful  natures.  Then 
she  thought  of  the  Rochfords ;  of  Angeline,  with  the  hair 
tucked  smoothly  behind  her  ears,  and  that  sweet,  delicate  face 
of  hers  underneath.  It  was  probably  bending  over  some  sick 
man's  couch  at  that  moment.  She  saw  the  long  room  with  the 
ghastly  lights,  and  the  rows  of  hospital  beds,  just  as  Angeline 
Rochford  had  described  them  to  her. 

"  And  sometimes,"  she  had  said,  "  they  will  lift  up  their 
heads  and  look  at  me,  an  indescribable  look,  as  my  dress  brushes 
past,  and  murmur,  '  God  bless  you,'  and  the  words  seem  the 
sweetest  I  ever  heard  in  my  life." 

There  was  a  strange  little  quiver  about  Rusha's  mouth  as 
she  remembered  this.  If  anybody  that  she  had  soothed  or 
helped  would  only  look  up  in  her  face  and  say  just  those 
words ! 

Then  again  she  thought  of  Andrew,  and  the  old  hot  pain  of 
that  awful  night  when  they  first  learned  his  crime,  came  back 
to  her,  making  her  wince  with  a  sudden  stricture  about  her 
heart.  What  was  he  doing  that  night,  she  wondered,  in  the 
strange,  far-off",  wicked  city  to  which  his  sin  had  driven  him ! 
Perhaps  it  was  as  well  that  she  did  not  know. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  239 

The  cloud,  the  lights,  the  press  of  her  thoughts,  gave  her  a 
sudden  sense  of  suffocation.  Leaning  back,  with  a  little  gasp 
for  breath,  her  eyes  fell  upon  a  painting  opposite  —  a  painting 
with  some  strong,  weird  life,  and  joy  of  freedom  in  it  that  ap- 
pealed strangely  to  her  mood  just  then,  although  at  any  time 
the  fierce  power  of  the  whole  scene  must  have  thrilled  her. 

It  was  night,  on  a  kind  of  wild,  barren  plain,  or  moor. 
Overhead,  great,  desolate,  wrathful  clouds  rushed  to  and  fro. 
Over  all  the  wide  moor,  with  its  matting  of  grayish-green  grass, 
there  was  a  fierce  riot  of  winds.*  What  a  strong  joy  there  was 
in  the  spirit  of  the  whole  picture,  as  the  winds  trampled  and 
beat  the  gray  tresses  of  grass  !  On  one  side  of  the  plain  stood 
a  solitary  tree.  The  storm  tore  into  it,  clutching  at  the  boughs, 
tearing  away  its  handful  of  leaves  in  awful  wrath.  Just  beyond 
was  an  emigrant  wagon.  The  wind  had  caught  up  a  single 
fold  of  the  white  canvas,  and  fluttered  it  triumphantly  in  the  air. 

A  woman,  with  a  baby  in  her  arms,  looked  out  of  one  side 
of  the  wagon  on  the  night,  with  a  chill  of  terror  in  her  face. 
On  the  other  side  a  man  sat,  trying  to  guide  the  horse  in  the 
teeth  of  the  wind,  his  whole  expression  concentrated  in  one  of 
grim  resolution ;  evidently  he  was  just  that  sort  of  stuff  of 
which  pioneers  are  made. 

The  sight  of  that  picture  was  like  a  rush  of  strong,  fresh 
breeze  into  Rusha's  thought.  It  seemed  to  carry  her  out  on 
the  wild  swell  of  its  dark  and  stormy  spirit  —  away  from  all 
the  glare,  and  vanity,  and  hollow  falseness  of  the  scene  around 
her,  into  its  own  wild,  riotous  freedom.  She  envied  the  man 
and  woman  out  there  alone  on  the  stormy  moor,  with  no  roof 
but  that  canvas  one. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  Ella's  laugh  broke  close  at  hand  — 
Ella's  light,  pleasant  laugh,  with  some  feeling  in  it  —  Rusha 
could  not  determine  just  what. 

A  voice  followed  it  —  "  Now,  really,  Miss  Darryll,  will  you 
refuse  me  so  small  a  favor,  Avhen  your  doing  so  will  spoil  the 
evening's  pleasure  for  me  ?  " 

|f***O,  dear!    that  miserable  Derrick  Howe  again!"  thought 
Rusha. 


240  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  Mr.  Howe,  you  certainly  have  the  most  wonderful  art  of 
saying  what  you  do  not  mean  —  one  who  did  not  know  better 
might  really  think  you  were  in  earnest,"  answered  Ella,  with 
pretty  coquetries  of  fan  and  bouquet. 

"  Think  I  was  in  earnest !  Do  you  really  suggest  that  I  am 
otherwise  ?  "  asked  the  young  man,  as  though  his  life  depended 
upon  Ella's  opinion. 

Again  that  light,  pleasant  giggle  of  laughter. 

"  Of  course  I  do,  Mr.  Howe  ;  else  you  might  possibly  induce 
me  to  break  my  word  and  grant  your  petition  —  it  being  one 
of  my  weaknesses  never  to  know  how  to  refuse  people." 

"What  does  that  fool  want  of  Ella?"  thought  Rusha,  sur- 
prised and  annoyed  at  the  whole  spirit  of  the  interview,  and 
feeling  certain  that  if  Ella  knew  who  was  sitting  close  behind 
her,  speech  and  manner  towards  her  companion  would  undergo 
a  sudden  transition. 

"  Then,  Miss  Darryll,  let  me  make  one  appeal  to  that  tender 
corner  of  your  nature,  and  if  you  believe  that  I  was  ever  in 
earnest  —  that  I  ever  spoke  a  truthful  word  in  my  life,  or  that 
I  hold  my  honor  dearer  than  that  life,  believe  me  now." 

Young  ladies  said  that  Derrick  Howe  had  an  "  irresistible 
way  "  with  him.  Whatever  power  or  graces  he  possessed,  he 
brought  them  all  to  bear  now  in  tone  and  glance. 

Both  evidently  had  an  effect  on  Ella.  There  was  more  talk 
of  this  sort,  more  coquettish  dallying  with  glove,  and  fan,  and 
bouquet,  and  at  last  it  transpired  that  all  this  sentimental  non- 
sense turned  upon  a  rose-bud  which  Derrick  Howe  had  besought 
of  Ella,  and  that  young  lady  had  refused  to  grant  him. 

But  he  gained  his  point  at  last.  Ella's  vanity  and  love  of 
admiration  were  too  strongly  flattered  not  to  yield  in  the  end, 
these  being  the  weaknesses  of  her  sex,  on  which  Derrick  Howe 
had  learned  to  play  so  skilfully.  She  reached  over  her  bouquet 
to  him,  saying,  — 

"  I  can't  break  my  word,  Mr.  Howe ;  but  if  you  take  th« 
flower,  why,  of  course,  you  are  responsible." 

He  selected  the  half-blossomed  rose,  and  transferred  it  tc 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  241 

button-hole  of  his  coat  with  arTair  that  plainly  said  the  flower 
was  to  him  the  most  important  thing  in  all  the  world.  Then 
he  drew  a  little  nearer  to  his  companion,  and  dropped  his  tone 
slightly,  w*ith  a  kiud  of  tender  earnestness  in  it. 

"  Miss  Darryll,"  he  said,  "  I  have  been  waiting,  for  months, 
for  an  opportunity  which  circumstances  have  not  afforded  me 
until  now." 

"  An  opportunity  for  what,  Mr.  Howe  ?  "  inquired  the  lady, 
with  an  interest  that  was  not  simulated  this  time. 

"  Simply  to  inquire  whether  I  had  been  so  unfortunate  as  to 
offend  you  inadvertently  ?  " 

"  O,  no,  certainly  not,"  said  Ella,  with  an  emphasis  which 
added  fuel  to  several  emotions  that  were  battling  in  the  soul  of 
her  sister  at  that  time. 

"  And  yet  —  pardon  me  —  if  it  had  proceeded  from  any 
other  source,  I  should  not  probably  have  given  it  a  second 
thought  —  but  I  cannot  be  deceived  here.  There  has  been  for 
a  loug  time  some  slight  constraint  in  your  manner,  and  it  seemed 
to  me  a  reluctance  to  accept  any  small  attentions  from  me, 
though  your  kindness  of  heart  might  not  allow  you  absolutely 
to  decline  them.  I  have,  indeed,  of  late,  refrained  from  calling 
at  your  house,  lest  my  visits  should  be  an  intrusion." 

Ella's  fingers  fluttered  irresolutely  among  her  flowers,  the  light 
of  her  diamond  rings  flashing  and  wavering  along  the  motion. 

"  O,  Ella,  Ella,  be  careful !  "  murmured  Rusha  away  down 
in  her  heart. 

"  Mr.  Howe,"  said  the  soft  voice  at  last,  "  I  wish  you  would 
be  content  with  my  assurance  that  I  am  not  offended  with  you, 
and  for  anything  you  may  have  observed  in  my  conduct  —  I  am 
not  responsible  for  it." 

«« But —  forgive  me  again  ;  it  is  a  matter  of  too  much  impor- 
tance on  my  part  to  be  let  go  so  easily  —  what  is  this  shadow 
that  has  come  betwixt  us — this  something  that  stopped  our 
friendly  correspondence  so  suddenly,  and  that  has  been  to  me  a 
subject  of  serious  thought  for  more  hours  than  you  will  be  like- 
ly to  suspect  ?  " 

21 


242  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

Ella's  fair  face  drooped  irresolutely  behind  her  fan. 

"  Do  be  frank  with  me  now,  Miss  Darryll,"  pleaded  Derrick 
Howe,  in  his  most  beguiling  tones.  "  It  is  my  right  to  know." 

There  was  a  little  hesitancy.  Ella  evidently  was  seeking  for 
the  smoothest  way  in  which  to  put  a  disagreeable  fact.  Rusha 
was  on  the  very  point  of  springing  up  and  hurling  the  truth  at 
him  without  any  mollification,  but  the  time  and  place  held  her 
back. 

"  Papa  is  a  man  of  very  strong  and  sometimes  unreasonable 
prejudices  —  and  —  and  —  Mr.  Howe,  do  excuse  me  from  the 
rest,"  her  embarrassment  partly  feigned,  partly  real,  but  certain- 
ly very  pretty. 

"  I  see,"  answered  Derrick  Howe.  "  I  have  incurred  Mr. 
Darryll's  dislike.  Whatever  may  be  his  grounds  for  it,  I  trust 
they  exist  neither  in  my  name  nor  my  family,"  a  little  shade  of 
pompousness  in  his  manner,  for  these  were  Derrick  Howe's 
strong  or  weak  points,  as  they  are  apt  to  be  with  men  or  women 
whose  capital  in  life  is  the  wealth  or  the  influence  of  their 
progenitors. 

"  O,  the  coxcomb !  "  thought  Rusha.  But  he  did  not  ap- 
pear to  strike  her  sister  in  this  light. 

"  O,  nothing  of  that  sort,  Mr.  Howe  !  That,  of  course,  in 
your  case,  would  be  quite  impossible.  But  papa's  prejudices 
are,  as  I  said,  as  unreasonable  as  they  are  strong,  and  his 
family  have  no  choice  but  to  submit." 

And  Ella  looked  the  submissive,  and  amiable,  and  oppressed 
daughter,  to  a  degree  that  her  sister,  familiar  with  her  imperi- 
ous style  at  home,  would  hardly  have  conceived  possible. 

"  Deeply  as  I  regret  the  fact  of  Mr.  Darryll's  dislike,  and  ab- 
solutely certain  as  I  am  that  nothing  in  my  own  life  or  character 
can  afford  him  the  slightest  ground  for  this,  still,  if  I  can  once 
be  .assured  that  his  daughter  in  no  wise  shares  her  father's  feel- 
ing, the  keenest  pang  of  all  will  have  been  spared  me." 

"  O,  then  you  maybe  absolutely  assured,  so  far  as  that  goes,'* 
voice,  smile,  and  glance  of  Ella  Darryll  adding  their  threefold 
weight  to  this  remark. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  243 

At  that  moment  supper  was  announced.  Derrick  Howe  gave 
his  arm  to  Ella,  and  the  two  rnoved  towards  the  dining-room,  a 
handsome  pair  certainly. 

The  numb,  dreary  feeling  which  had  held  possession  of  Rusha 
a  shoi*t  time  before,  was  succeeded  now  by  some  strong  emotion, 
with  a  live  nerve  of  pain  smiting  all  through  it. 

Amazement,  alarm,  indignation,  were  forces  about  equally 
balanced  in  her  thoughts.  As  for  Derrick  Howe,  she  did  not 
give  him  credit  for  a  particle  of  sincerity  in  the  whole  interview. 
She  believed  that  he  was  merely  testing  his  power  over  Ella 
Darryll,  and  that  he  would  hug  his  self-love  at  this  fresh  proof 
of  his  influence  over  another  young  and  fascinating  woman. 

But  when  it  came  to  Ella,  her  emotion  was  a  compound  one. 
She  believed  here,  too,  that  love  of  admiration  had  been  the  un- 
derlying motive  of  all  her  sister's  coquetries  with  Derrick  Howe  ; 
still  she  could  not  have  gone  so  far  unless  she  had  taken  some 
especial  interest  in  the  gentleman.  And  here  the  pang  smote 
swift  and  sharp,  for  Rusha,  with  her  strong,  clear,  native  truth- 
fulness, could  not  help  seeing  that  Ella  had  deceived  her.  She 
had  most  positively  avowed  to  her  an  indifference  towards  Der- 
rick Howe,  which,  unless  she  was  a  downright  liar,  —  you  know 
Rusha  was  not  of  that  sort  of  material  that  minces  and  smooths 
over  the  truth,  —  she  was  far  from  feeling. 

Flirtations,  coquetries,  all  sorts  of  little  arts,  Rusha  expected 
of  Ella  ;  indeed,  as  the  world  went,  she  was  not  disposed  to  be 
hard  on  her  for  these,  thinking  nobody  would  be  very  much 
harmed  by  them  ;  but  the  whole  sentiment  of  the  conversation 

which  she  luul  just  listened,  implied  a  great  deal  on  both 
jides  that  the  words  did  not. 

|She  was  angered,  too,  for  her  father's  sake.  Not  that  John 
Darryll  would  have  been  unwilling  that  Derrick  Howe  should 
know  just  the  place  he  occupied  in  the  former's  opinion,  but  Ella 
$bad  implied  that  her  father  was  severe  and  tyrannical,  and  that 
^he  was  under  mortal  restraint,  which  latter  was  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  the  truth.  So  jealousy  for  her  father's  honor  nddi-<l 
new  fuel  to  the  flame  of  Rusha's  indignation  —  an  indignation 


244  DABRYLL    GAP,   OR 

that  was  only  biding  its  time  to  come  down  heavily  on  Ella's 
head,  while  beyond  this,  and  deeper  than  Rusha  was  conscious 
at  the  time,  the  hurt  went.  For  Ella  had  turned  a  'new  side  to 
her  sister  that  night.  Rusha  could  never  trust  her  as  she  had 
done.  Hereafter  there  must  lurk  a  doubt  and  a  fear  of  Ella's 
truthfulness,  whether  of  deed  or  word,  in  her  sister's  mind.  ^ 

All  these  thoughts  were  at  work  within  her  as  the  crowds 
swept  by  towards  the  supper-room.  She  sat  there  —  all  the 
light  and  glow  of  her  face  quenched,  a  still  face,  wearing  a  pale, 
sort  of  locked-up  look !  What  a  contrast  from  the  radiant 
gayety  of  Ella's  at  that  moment ! 

A  gentleman,  passing  at  the  time,  observed  her ;  a  mar- 
ried man,  almost  her  father's  age,  and  one  of  his  business 
acquaintances. 

Some  gentleman  had  appropriated  the  other's  wife  for  the  sup- 
per, and  seeing  Rusha  unattended,  he  paused,  and  offered  her 
his  arm.  She  took  it  mechanically,  and  strove  to  bring  her 
thoughts  back  to  the  time  and  occasion,  playing  with  some 
thrums  and  ends  of  thoughts  in  order  to  entertain  her  companion , 
a  bald-headed,  rubicund-faced  man,  a  kindly  soul  enough,  but  of 
the  hard,  practical  sort — just  one  to  make  Rusha's  mood  grim-f 
mer  than  ever. 

The  truth  was,  she  was  half  desperate  when  she  got  amongst 
that  buzzing  crowd  again,  and  listened  to  the  commonplaces 
which  her  cavalier  dealt  out  to  her  with  cream  and  cake. 
He  was  not  particularly  graceful  in  this  new  office,  and  managed 
to  jostle  her  cup  of  coffee,  so  that  a  few  drops  fell  on  her  divs.s, 
at  which  the  poor  man  was  evidently  distressed. 

"  No  matter,"  said  Rusha  ;  "  there  are  darker  stains  here,  and 
on  finer  stuff,  too,  to-night." 

"  To  what  do  you  allude,  Miss  Darryll  —  I  have  noH 
them?"  asked  the  rubicund-faced  gentleman,  glancing  around 
on  the  company,  with  an  expression   compounded  of  blank  ness 
and  amazement. 

"  They  are  on  all  our  souls,"  answered  Rusha,  with  a  grim 
look  about  her  mouth,   "  black  and  deep,  and  not  all  the  pei 
fumes  of  Araby  can  wash  them  out !  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  245 

^^^  stare  of  amazement  and  alarm  with  which  her  cavalier 
greeted  this  speech  of  Rusha's,  struck  her  so  ludicrously  that 
she  laughed  outright  —  a  laugh  keyed  half  to  amusement,  half  to 
bitterness,  and  in  no  wise  calculated  to  lessen  the  gentleman's 
bewilderment. 

KI  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  she  said,  beginning  to  realize 
^K  impression  she  was  creating.  "  A  hidden  thought  of  mine 
slipped  out  then.  I  suppose  we  should  all  startle  each  other  if 
^Kwere  to  bring,  at  this  moment,  our  secret  feelings  to  the 
0t." 

gentleman  made  some  conventional  reply.     He  evidently 

not  sound  Rusha's  thought,  and  she  went  on,  seeking  to 

^•eem  herself  by  talking  of  ordinary  matters.  That  she  did 
K(  wholly  succeed,  was  apparent  by  the  gentleman's  remark,  a 
Kile  later,  to  a  friend  of  his,  a  gorgeously  attired  matron,  who 
Ks  sipping  coffee,  and  chatting  with  his  wife. 

^Isn't  that  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  Darryll  somewhat  pe- 
Kar?" 

ft  Well,  it  does  strike  me,"  answered  the  lady,  conspicuous  in 
old  laces,  "  that  I  have  heard  she  was  something  of  a  blue- 
stocking." 

"  Ah,  that  explains  it !  "  exclaimed  the  gentleman,  with  a 
tone  of  satisfied  conviction. 

"  What  a  shocking  affair  that  matter  of  Andrew's  was  !  "  con- 
tinued the  lady,  in  a  complacent  undertone  —  the  Darrylls'  name 
having  struck  a  new  key-note  of  gossip.  "  I  never  supposed  they 
could  bear  up  under  it  so  well."  i 

Poor  Rusha —  it  was  her  fate  to  be  misunderstood. 

Some  time  after  midnight  the  Darrylls' carriage  arrived,  and 
Ella  came  to  her  sister  in  the  dressing-room,  all  in  a  flutter. 

"  Who  accompanies  you  home  to-night?" 

Rusha  mentioned  the  name  of  the  gentleman  who,  a  few  mo- 
ments ago,  had  "  solicited  that  honor." 

Had  Ella  been  less  preoccupied  she  would  have  observed  that 
ister's  manner  indicated,  to  use  the  former's  metaphor,  "  a 
storm  brewing." 

21* 


246  DAERTLL    GAP,   OR 

"  Well,  you  just  go  on  without  me.  I  have  agreed  to  drive 
home  with  some  friends." 

Ordinarily,  Rusha  would  not  have  given  this  intelligen^^H 
second  thought,  but  her  suspicions  were  alert  now,  and  it  st  rlH 
her,  as  Ella  lightly  vanished,  that  the  latter  had  made  a  surS 
titious  engagement  to  drive  home  with  Derrick  Howe.     E™ 
pulse  seemed  on  fire  at  the  suggestion. 

"  I  will  frustrate  that  plan,  at  any  cost,"  she  said,  setting* 
teeth  hard  ;  and,  with  her  determination  taken  on  this  point,J 
descended  the  stairs. 

When  she  arrived  at  the  carriage  door,  she  declined  enterj 
it,  saying  to  the  gentleman  who  offered  to  assist  her,  — 

"  Thank  you.     I  shall  wait  here  for  my  sister." 

He  wondered  that  she  had  not  done  so  in  the  dressing-rooM 
but  begged  her  pardon,  adding,  "  I  supposed  she  was  not  to  riijfl 
with  us  ; "  and  so  they  stood  there  on  the  pavement,  chattiB 
gayly  for  the  next  five  minutes. 

At  last  Ella,  supposing  that  their  own  carriage  had  disj 
peared,  and  the  way  was  clear,  came  out.     Rusha  was  rim 
Derrick  Howe  was  by  her  side.     She  sprang  forward,  and  1 
the  amazed  couple  on  the  lowest  step. 

"  Ella,"  she  said,  quietly,  laying  her  hand  on  her  sis 
arm,  "  we  have  been  waiting  for  you.     You  had  better  return 
in  our  own  carriage  to-night." 

Derrick  Howe  flattered  himself  on  his  thorough  self-posses- 
sion ;  but,  for  once,  he  was  confounded. 

Ella  stood  irresolute,  too   thoroughly  taken  by  surpris' 
speak  a  word.    Of  course  it  would  not  do  to  desert  the 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Miss  Darryll,  but  your  sister  has  t 
me  the  pleasure  of  accompanying  her  home,"  an.swerec' 
blandest  tones,  the  voice  of  Derrick  Howe. 

"  Then  I  am  compelled  to  tell  you,  Mr.  Howe,  that  si 
at  the  risk  of  her  father's  displeasure,  and  that,  with  Ids- 
edge,  she  would  not  have  dared  give  you  this  promise^ 
Ella." 

Derrick  Howe  was  dumfounded.      There   was    not  another 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  247 

woman  in  the  world  who  would  have  presumed  to  defy  him  to 
in  that  fashion.     He  who  fancied  that  the  house  and 
of  John  Darryll  ought  to  regard  themselves  as  im- 
honored  by  his  attention  —  he,  Derrick  Howe,  with  his 
ition,  and  his  ancestry  !     What  could  he  do  ?     He  could  not 
knock  down  the  fair,  brave  girl  standing  there  !     It  was  a  los- 
^K  game.     As  for  Ella,  she  was  so  overwhelmed  betwixt  dis- 
^wery  and  her  sister's  courage,  that  the  imperious  girl  was,  for 
once,  utterly  subdued. 

Mfeusha,  too,  had  an  immense  force  on  her  side,  for  Derrick 
was  one  of  those  matters  on  which  even  Ella  dared  not 
her  father's  anger. 
W"  I  think  I  had  better  return  with  my  sister.     Good  night, 
Hr.  Howe ; "  and  she  turned  towards  the  carriage  more  crest- 
Kllen  than  Ella  Darryll  had  ever  been  in  her  life. 


248  DAEBYLL    GAP,   OB 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

BY  the  time  the  carriage  reached  home,  Ella  DarrylPs  raS 
was  at  white  heat.  For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she  had  beejpE 
cowed  into  submission,  and  that,  too,  by  her  sister. 

This  reflection  was  a  most  galling  one  to  her  pride,  and  thj 
latter  was  greatly  exasperated  by  the  fact  that  Derrick  IIowJ 
had  been  a  witness  of  her  discomfiture.  Indeed,  she  was  for  t« 
moment  so  stung  with  shame  and  wrath  at  the  whole  thing  as 
to  lose  all  thought  of  her  father,  who  was  a  force  that  Rush 
could  at  any  moment  summon  to  her  aid.  The  truth  was,  t 
imperious  girl  was  amazed  at  herself,  and  at  the  power  bef< 
which  her  spirit  had  for  once  quailed. 

The  sisters  ascended  the  stairs  without  speaking  a  word, 
there  was  a  storm  seething  in  Ella's  soul,  which  broke  out 
moment  Rusha  and  herself  were  inside  the  chamber. 

"  Rusha  Darryll,  how  dare  you  insult  me  as    you  did   t 
night?" 

"  Ella  Darryll,  how  dare  you  say  what  you  know  you  have 
this  night?"  The  voice  not  without  agitation,  but  still,  hearing 
it,  you  would  somehow  have  felt  that  the  moral  force  was  on  the 
side  of  this  speaker. 

"  Will  you  explain  what  you  mean  —  and  then  I'm  read} 
answer  you  ?  " 

"  Simply  that  I  heard  every  word  you  and  Derrick  HOT 
to  each  other  in  the  drawing-room  before  supper.     If  you  hud 
just  taken  the  trouble  to  look  around,  you  would  have  found  me 
close  by  you  on  a  corner  of  the  sofa !  " 

Had  a  bombshell  burst  at  Ella's  ears,  she  could  hardly  have 
been  more  amazed.     It  gave  Rusha  an  immense  adva^B 
the  outset ;  but   passion   for  the  moment  swept  downH 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  249 

,  current  every  other  feeling  with  Ella  Darryll.     It  made  her 

|despei*ate. 

I  "  I  don't  care  if  you  did.  What  business  of  yours  was  it?" 
I  "  I  think  it  was  decidedly  business  of  mine,  when  I  heard  his 
own  child  turn  against  my  father,  and  this,  too,  before  that  mis- 
erable man,  Derrick  Howe,"  her  voice  reaching  its  climax  of 

Bscorn  in  that  name. 
[    "  Rusha  Darryll,  that  is  a  base  lie  ! " 
.    "  We  will  leave  others  to  decide  that  question,  Ella.     I  can 

[repeat  the  conversation  word  for  word,  and  I  think  there  will  be 
no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  unprejudiced  auditor  that  it  is  I 
who  speak  the  truth,"  her  voice  growing  steadfast  as  the  other's 
grew  fierce. 

Ella's  next  speech  leaped  away  from  this  point,  as  blind  pas- 

fBion  is  apt  to  do,  to  the  one  which  was  prominent  in  her  own 
thoughts :  — 

I  *'  One  thing  is  certain  ;  I  shall  hate  you,  Rusha  Darryll,  to 
the  last  day  of  my  life,  for  what  you  did  to-night ! " 
[.   "  I  cannot  help  it,  Ella.     I  should  do  the  very  same  thing 
again  under  the  same  circumstances." 

Of  course,  talk  of  this  sort  could  not  go  on  forever.  Ella's 
accusations  and  anathemas,  dashing  themselves  fiercely  as  they 
might,  against  Rusha's  determination,  could  not  move  her.  She 
knew  where  she  stood,  and  it  was  evident  that  she  had  the  best 
of  the  argument. 

With  each  reply  Ella  felt  her  ground  giving  way ;  and  when 
Rusha  said  at  last,  — 

r;  -  "  Well,  there  is  no  use  in  degrading  both  of  ourselves  by 
going  on  in  this  way  any  longer.  The  question  comes  straight 
down  to  this  — '  What  do  you  intend  to  do  in  the  future  with 
regard  to  Derrick  Howe  ? ' ' 

"Just  what  I  please.     I  shall  not  certainly  submit  to  any 
dictation  from  you  iu  respect  to  my  conduct,"  the  tone  still  del 
anUenough,  but  it  was  that  of  one  who  felt  the  props  swaying 
beneath  her. 

"Very  well,  then,  there  is  no  more  to  be  said.     My  c 

is  clear  enough." 


250  DABRTLL    GAP,   OR 

"  I  suppose  I  am  to  receive  that  as  a  threat.  You  do  take  A 
high  airs  on  yourself,  Rusha  Darryll !  " 

Ella  sneered  through  this  speech  ;  but,  after  all,  the  sneeringjl 
was  a  failure. 

"  You  are  simply  to  take  it  as  I  mean  —  that  to-morrow1^ 
morning  I  shall  put  the  whole  thing  out  of  my  hands  by  telling  I 
pa  everything  that  has  occurred  to-night  —  everything,  Ella." 

Ella  Darryll  was  a  proud  girl,  and  her  temper  had  flamed* 
into  such  passion  that  night,  as  it  had  never  done  before.     In-1 
deed,  her  provocation  had  been  great,  and  perhaps  her  sister's™ 
conduct  in  the  matter  had  not  been  altogether  judicious.     But  ^ 
as  her  anger  cooled,  the  girl  began  to  realize  her  position,  and 
it  was  certainly  an  unpleasant  one. 

John  Darryll  could  be  managed  and  defied  in  a  good  many  J 
ways  ;  but  when  it  came  to  possible  husbands  for  his  daughters,™ 
he  was  inflexible,  and  there  was  no  one  of  the  "  hangers  ou,"l 
as  he  contemptuously  termed  most  of  the  daintily-gloved  gentl&B 
men  who  aspired  to  be  Ella's  lovers,  for  whom  he  had  conceiveoH 
so  hearty  an  aversion  as  for  Derrick  Howe. 

Rusha's  story  would,  of  course,  only  make  the  man  furious^ 
and  there  would  not  be  one  of  her  family  who  would  not  side  with 
him  ;  so  Ella  would  have  to  take  the  brunt  of  his  anger  alone. 

Whatever  influence  Derrick  Howe  might  have  acquired  over   | 
Ella,  Rusha  saw  that  it  was  not,  at  this  time,  strong  enough  toJ 
inspire  her  to  any  great  sacrifice  for  his  sake,  and  that  woundedfl 
pride  and  self-love,  not  regard  for  him,  had  been  at  the  bo» 
torn  of  her  anger.     This  preception   caused   at  once   a  revul- 
sion in  her  feelings ;  so,  without  waiting  for  Ella's  reply,  sha" 
burst  out,  affording  her  sister  the  first  advantage  she  had  done 
that  night. 

"  O,  Ella,  has  that  miserable,  conceited,  worthless  creature 
made  all  this  trouble  betwixt  us  ?  Do  you  —  can  you  care  for 
him?" 

"You  are  all  so  prejudiced  against  him  —  nobody  else  dis- 
likes  him  —  nobody  else  sees  him  in  the  light  that  you  do  ;  "  and 
here  she  broke  out  into  a  fit  of  sullen  sobbing. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


251 


You  know  how  quick  Rusha's  feelings  were  touched  —  they 
were  a  harp  on  which  a,  cunning  hand  could  always  play  skil- 
fully ;  though,  to  do  Ella  justice,  there  was  no  thought  of  that 
in  her  tears  :  they  were  the  natural  reaction  of  overstrained  feel- 
ing ;  but  the  sight  of  them  moved  Rusha. 

"  If  I  could  only  know,"  she  said,  in  a  doubtful,  distressed 
tone,  "  that  you  did  not  really  care  for  the  man.  And  yet  how 
can  I  believe  it  after  what  I  heard  to-night  ?  " 

"  You  make  a  great  matter  out  of  a  little  flirting,  Rusha." 

"  No,  Ella,"  her  voice  gaining  steadiness,  "  it  was  not  flirting. 
J  know  the  difference.  The  spirit  of  the  whole  interview  im- 
plied something  beyond  that  —  something  on  which  any  man 
would  have  a  right  to  found  any  hopes  he  pleased.  You  know, 
as  well  as  I,  that  all  your  tones  and  looks  to-night  afforded  Der- 
rick HoAve  reason  to  believe  that  you  —  O,  I  can't  think  of  the 
whole  thing.  It's  too  galling  !  "  her  voice  breaking  out  into  an- 
gry impetuosity  again,  as  was  very  likely  to  be  the  case  with 
Rusha  Darryll. 

Ella  said  nothing,  but  sobbed  and  sobbed  on  drearily,  sitting 
there  in  her  elegant  dress,  and  neither  the  sight  nor  the  sound 
was  pleasant  to  her  sister. 

At  last  Rusha  rose,  and  paced  up  and  down  the  chamber.  It 
was  her  old  habit  in  any  excitement,  whether  of  joy  or  distress. 
Now  her  face  had  the  perplexed,  anxious  look  which  blurred 
out  half  its  youth. 

"  I  wish  I  knew  what  to  do  in  this  matter." 

She  did  not  know  she  had  spoken  out  her  thoughts,  thus  giv- 
ing Ella  the  key  to  her  new  frame  of  mind,  for  Rusha  was 
doubting  within  herself  now,  whether  it  was  her  duty  to  carry 
;the  whole  matter  to  her  father;  and  the  prospect  of  this  grew 
appalling  to  Ella  in  just  the  proportion  that  her  passion  abated. 

At  last  Rusha  turned  suddenly,  and  stood  still  before  her 
sister. 

>,  Ella,  is  there  to  be  any  new  trouble  in  our  family  after 
have  gone  through  so  lately  —  after  all  that !' 
sure  I  don't  want  to  make  any,"  sobbed  Ella,  dread  of 


252  DAERYLL   GAP,    OB 

consequences  and  the  knowledge  of  the  decision  that  was  pend- 
ing in  Rusha's  mind  quite  subduing  her  replies. 

There  came  another  pause,  during  which  Rusha  stood  still, 
looking  at  her  sister ;  and  the  looking  helped  Ella's  cause. 

"  Ella,"  she  said  at  last,  the  steadiness  in  her  voice  a  little 
broken  up  with  some  lingering  tenderness,  "  you  cannot  tell  how 
my  whole  soul  shrinks  from  making  any  fresh  division  in  our 
family,  or  having  any  new  root  of  bitterness  springing  up  to 
trouble  us.  But  for  all  that,  if  I  see  my  duty  plain  before  me, 
I  shall  not  shrink  from  doing  it." 

"  What  duty  ?  "  asked  Ella,  although  she  understood  perfectly 
what  her  sister  meant. 

"  The  duty  of  laying  the  whole  matter  before  pa  to-morrow 
morning,  and  arresting  the  consequences  of  your  own  folly  be- 
fore it  is  too  late." 

"  You  talk  as  though  I  was  engaged,  or  ready  to  elope  with 
Derrick  Howe  any  moment !  "  added  Ella,  growing  indignant. 

"  No,  I  don't ;  but  I  am  afraid  of  the  man,  and  one  dreadful 
lesson  has  taught  me  to  sift  things  to  the  bottom,  with  those  I 
love  and  would  save.  And  much  as  I  dislike  Derrick  Howe,  I 
must  admit  that  he  has  some  '  witchcraft  of  art,'  some  personal 
magnetism,  which  gives  him  a  certain  power  over  my  sex.  I 
tremble  when  I  see  you  are  drawn  into  it,  and  long  to  drag 
you  away  as  I  would  from  fire  or  death." 

"  Fire  or  death  !     O,  Rusha  !  " 

"  Yes,  I  repeat  it.  I  would  rather  see  you  in  your  grave 
than  that  man's  wife  !  " 

"  Why,  you  talk  as  though  he  were  the  prince  of  villains  !  " 

"  I  do  not  mean  that,  but  I  do  mean  that  I  regard  Derrick 
Howe  as  a  man  without  honor"  or  principle  of  any  sort.     I  be- 
lieve him  selfish  to  the  core  —  that  he  never  knew  the  thrill  of  ; 
one  generous  feeling,  or  was  ever  governed  in  his  life  by  a  sin- 
gle worthy  motive.     I  know  that  to  tickle  his  miserable  self- 
love,  he  would  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  win  the  heart  of  any 
woman,  and  then  break  it  without  a  pang  of  remorse.     He  hi9 
no  respect  for  womanhood  —  no  idol  but  himself.     He  is  iuca- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  253 

pable  of  any  other  affection,  and  as  for  truth,  honor,  goodness, 
I  know  that  in  his  secret  soul  he  sneers  at  all  these  things  as 
at  some  old  wives'  fable." 

"  I  think  you  are  hard  on  him,  Rusha ;  but,  whether  you  are 
or  not,  I  heartily  wish  I'd  never  seen  the  fellow !  "  and  a  little 
impressed  by  all  her  sister  had  said,  and  indignant  with  him 
for  all  the  trouble  he  had  made  her,  —  for  she  was  of  an  ease- 
loving  nature  in  all  respects,  —  Ella  really  meant  what  she  said 
at  the  moment. 

There  was  a  flash  of  joy  on  Rusha's  face. 

"  O,  Ella,  if  I  knew  you  would  always  feel  like  that,  then 
the  matter  need  never  be  spoken  of  betwixt  us  again." 

Each  was  in  a  temper  of  mind  now  to  reason  calmly  with 
the  other,  which  could  not  have  been  the  case  without  the  pre- 
vious explosion. 

»  "  What  is  it  that  you  are  so  afraid  of  with  regard  to  me  and 
Derrick  Howe  ?  Do  you  think  he  is  flirting  with  me,  and  seek- 
ing to  draw  me  on  to  love  him,  simply  to  show  his  power,  or 
that  the  fellow  really  has  serious  intentions?" 

"  I  don't  feel  assured,"  answered  Rusha,  reflectively.  "  I 
know  that  he  has  assumed  just  that  air,  and  smiled  just  that 
way,  upon  a  thousand  women,"  quite  losing  sight  of  the  bitter 
pill  this  must  be  to  her  haughty  sister's  self-love.  "  But  your 
father's  money  would  throw  a  heavy  weight  into  the  scales  in 
your  favor." 

"  There  are  many  rich  fathers  who  would  be  glad  to  have 
Derrick  Howe  their  son-in-law,"  said  Ella. 

That  there  was  truth  in  this,  Rusha  could  not  deny,  but  Ella's 
cause  was  not  served  by  her  sister's  partial  admission  of  the 
fact. 

"  Well,  if  it  be  as  you  say,  then  Derrick  Howe  will  certainly 
marry  the  lady  who  can  bring  him  the  largest  fortune,  or  the 
best  position.  You  may  be  settled  on  that  point." 

Ella  said  nothing,  unless  her  looks  made  a  faint  protest. 

"  But,  Ella,  we  are  wasting  words.  I  have  a  final  proposi- 
tion to  make." 

22 


254  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  Well,  say  on." 

"  You  must  solemnly  promise  me  that  from  this  hour  you 
will  utterly  renounce  all  acquaintance  with  Derrick  Howe,  be- 
yond the  most  formal  recognition,  Avhen  this  is  unavoidable  — 
that  you  will,  under  no  circumstances,  accept  any  courtesies,  or 
enter  into  any  conversation  with  him  —  you  must  pledge  your- 
self to  all  this,  or  —  "  She  paused  a  little,  almost  startled  at 
the  authoritativeness  of  her  tones. 

It  must  have  been  humiliating  enough  to  her  haughty  sister 
to  hear  them,  but  beyond  loomed  her  father's  wrath. 

"  Go  on,"  and  Ella  set  her  teeth. 

"  Or  I  shall  go  at  once  to  pa  with  the  whole.  If  my  terms 
seem  hard,  what  I  have  witnessed  this  evening  justifies  them. 
There  must  be  no  tampering  with  danger  in  a  matter  where  all 
your  future  may  be  at  stake.  So,  Ella,  this  is  my  ultimatum  !  " 

Ella  waited  a  moment.  "  When  Mr.  Howe  sees  me,  he  will 
certainly  insist  on  an  explanation  of  your  conduct  to-night,  and 
as  a  lady  I  ought  not  to  refuse  to  give  it." 

"  Send  him  to  me :  I  will  take  all  the  responsibility.  O, 
Ella,  you  do  not  care  for  —  you  are  not  in  love  with  this  man  !  " 
a  quick  fear  alive  in  her  voice  again. 

"  No  ;  and  never  shall  be,"  answered  the  young  lady  with  an 
emphasis  which  was  half  anger ;  but  it  must  be  admitted  in 
her  defence,  that  Ella  had  had  a  good  deal  to  try  her  that  night. 

"  Then,  Ella,  give  me  your  promise,  and  I  will  never  mention 
Derrick  Howe's  name  to  you  again  so  long  as  we  both  live." 

What  could  Ella  do  ?  It  was  not  the  thought  of  Derrick 
Howe,  for  he  had  never  sounded  any  deep  feeling  in  the  girl's 
nature,  but  it  was  sorely  wounded  pride,  which  made  her  chafe 
against  giving  this  promise.  Still,  there  Rusha  stood,  immova- 
ble as  fate,  and  the  small  bronze  clock  on  the  mantel  was  mur- 
muring away  the  few  hours  which  remained  of  the  night. 

"  Yes,  I  promise  all  that  you  have  asked,"  replied  Ella,  at 
last,  feeling  that  delay  might  alarm  Rusha,  and  her  moment  of 
grace  expire. 

"  Then  let  this  be  the  seal  of  all  which  has  passed  betwixt 


4 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


255 


us  to-night ;  "  and  Rusha  bent  down,  kissed  her  sister's  cheek 
tenderly,  and  went  out. 

Whether  she  had  done  wisely  or  not,  the  future  was  to  test. 
It  was  in  her  nature  to  reach  conclusions  swiftly,  and  to  act 
promptly  on  them  ;  and  in  any  question  of  right  or  wrong,  she 
was  sure  to  see,  with  clear  vision,  where  the  truth  lay.  But 
she  was  swift  and  impetuous,  and  the  fiery  blood  of  her  youth 
had  not  been  calmed  by  slow  years  of  experience.  If  she  had 
erred  in  this  matter,  the  fault  was  rather  in  her  youth  than  in 
herself. 

Derrick  Howe  paced  up  and  down  the  room  at  his  hotel  that 
night,  puffing  his  cigar,  and  pausing  occasionally  to  turn  out  a 
glass  of  wine  from  the  choice  old  "  dozen  "  on  the  table.  His 
tastes  were  epicurean  in  cigars  and  wine,  as  they  were  in 
women,  or  horses,  or  anything  else  ;  and  Derrick  Howe  had  so 
far  managed  to  support  all  his  luxurious  habits,  although  the 
capital  of  the  small  fortune  which  he  had  inherited,  dwindled 
frightfully  every  year ;  but  he  had  a  sort  of  feeling  that  the 
world  owed  Derrick  Howe  a  living,  for  condescending  to  exist 
in  it  at  all ;  and  as  for  husbanding  his  fortune,  or  seeking  to 
enhance  it  by  his  own  energy  and  industry,  that  belonged  to 
those  vulgar,  plodding  people  who  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
born  without  the  traditional  honor  of  such  a  family  as  the 
Howes  to  maintain. 

But  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  choicest  cigars  and  the  cost- 
liest wines  failed,  on  this  night,  to  afford  their  usual  solace  to 
Derrick  Howe.  The  truth  was,  that  young  man's  self-love  and 
vanity  had  suffered  a  rebuff  such  as  they  had  never  done  before 
in  his  whole  life.  He  really  began  to  doubt  his  own  identity  — 
whether  he  were  the  all-potent  Derrick  Howe  that  he  had 
always  regarded  himself. 

His  cogitations  went  on  something  after  this  manner,  though 
he  occasionally  relieved  himself  with  .audible  exclamations, 
which,  I  regret  to  say,  were  pretty  freely  seasoned  with  oaths  ; 
but  then  there  could  be  worse  things  than  that  said  of  Derrick 
Howe,  without  losing  him  the  favor  of  the  fashionable  young 


256  •  DAEETLL    GAP,    OR 

ladies  who  dropped  beaming   smiles    upon  him   whenever  he 
approached  them. 

"  By  George  !  I  wouldn't  have  believed  that  girl  would  have 
had  the  courage  to  defy  me  in  that  way  !  As  though  it  wasn't 
an  honor  and  a  condescension  for  me,  Derrick  Howe,  to  wait 
on  one  of  that  Darryll  tribe  home,  anyhow  !  She'd  better  think 
where  they  sprung  from,  and  that  ten  years  ago  her  father  was 
selling  soap  and  tallow  candles  in  some  one-horse  village  gro- 
cery. And  to  put  on  airs  in  that  way  !  She  carried  it  through 
splendidly,  though  —  no  fuss  about  it,  but  cool  and  self-pos- 
sessed as  a  roused  princess.  By  Jupiter !  it  took  you  down, 
Derrick  Howe !  You  may  as  well  own  up  —  sold  for  that 
time ! " 

The  more  he  thought  the  matter  over,  the  more  it  rankled, 
and  the  bitter  sting  in  the  whole  thing  was  the  clear  fact  of  the 
case  that  Rusha  Darryll  considered  him  beneath  her  sister  — 
him,  Derrick  Howe ! 

He  might  sneer  as  much  as  he  liked  about  the  airs  that 
"  Mushroom"  always  took  on,  and  the  newly-fledged  Petroleum 
dynasty  ;  but  for  all  that,  the  hard,  undisguised  fact  stood  there 
before  him,  forcing  him  to  most  unwilling  and  unflattering  con- 
clusions. 

It  somehow  weakened  the  man's  self-confidence,  and  in  the 
same  degree  advanced  the  Darryll  family  in  his  regard.  That 
very  day  he  would  have  felt  that  he  conferred  an  everlasting 
honor  upon  John  Darryll  by  taking  his  daughter  to  wife,  and 
bestowing  his  name  upon  her ;  but  it  appeared  that  her  sister 
did  not  regard  it  in  this  light  at  all. 

He  really  began  to  feel  a  little  uncertain  of  that  which  had 
seemed  to  him  as  secure  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens  —  his  own 
position  !  And  Derrick  Howe  had  been  so  feted  and  flattered 
by  silly  girls  and  women,  that  he  always  conceived  every  one 
elated  by  triumph  who  received  the  honor  of  any  special  atten- 
tion on  his  part.  A  rejection  of  this  was  a  wholly  new  experi- 
ence to  him,  and,  it  must  be  confessed,  gave  Ella  Darryll  a  new  1 
interest  and  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  man.  During  the  last .• 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  257 

year  he  had  begun  to  realize  that  his  rapidly  diminishing  cof- 
fers must  be  replenished  from  some  source,  and  the  way  to  this, 
which  presented  itself  as  the  easiest  and  most  feasible,  was  to 
marry  a  fortune. 

His  wife's  money  would,  of  course,  enable  him  to  lead  the 
life  of  gentleman-like,  luxurious  indolence,  to  which  his  antece- 
dents and  his  tastes  entitled  him,  while,  of  course,  any  woman 
who  had  the  good  luck  to  secure  Derrick  Howe  for  her  hus- 
band would  be  glad  enough  to  pay  the  price  of  a  fortune  for  the 
honor.  Perhaps  even  Derrick  Howe  would  not  have  put  the 
facts  to  himself  in  just  their  bare  ignobleness,  but  they  would 
not  the  less  control  his  whole  conduct.  He  simply  intended  to 
make  a  good  matrimonial  speculation,  and,  as  he  coarsely 
termed  it,  he  kept  now  in  all  society  "  a  general  eye  to  the  main 
chance  ;  "  for  Derrick  Howe,  in  spite  of  all  his  graces  of  manner 
and  gallant  airs,  was  inherently  coarse  fibred,  as  I  suppose 
every  man  or  woman  is,  who  is  deficient  in  moral  quality. 

But  Derrick  Howe  had  fastidious  tastes  to  gratify  ;  and,  indis- 
pensable as  money  was,  there  were  other  accessories  which  he 
strongly  desired  in  a  wife.  He  admired  wit,  style,  beauty.  He 
wanted  these  to  grace  the  elegant  home  which  his  wife  should 
bring  him ;  and,  when  indolently  canvassing  the  matrimonial 
qualifications  of  the  young  ladies  whom  he  met  in  society  —  for 
Derrick  Howe  did  everything,  even  his  thinking,  indolently  — 
he  had  always  numbered  Ella  Darryll  as  among  that  small, 
eligible  company  of  maidens  whom  he  might  yet  condescend  to 
honor  with  the  offer  of  himself.  Indeed,  Ella  Darryll  was  the 
sort  of  woman  after  Derrick  Howe's  own  heart  —  stylish,  bril- 
liant, attractive  ;  although  this  would  all  have  gone  for  nothing 
more  than  to  serve  an  agreeable  flirtation,  had  not  the  father's 
gold  backed  the  daughter's  accomplishments. 

This  regard  to  future  possibilities  had  always  been  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  young  man's  attentions  to  Ella  Darryll ;  but  the  rebuff 
which  he  had  experienced  that  night  satisfied  him  that,  however 
le  might  regard  the  honor  which  he  conferred  on  the  rich  specu- 
itor's  daughter,  her  family  would  be  strenuously  opposed  to  his 
22* 


258  DAEBTLL   GAP,   OB 

suit.  An  obstacle  here  was  something  he  had  never  counted 
on  ;  indeed,  it  was  an  unprecedented  fact  in  Derrick  Howe's  ac- 
quaintance with  women,  and  at  once  invested  this  one  with  a  new 
value  in  his  eyes.  Any  opposition  would  only  give  a  new  flavor 
to  a  wooing  he  had  hitherto  regarded  as  problematical. 

"  I  suppose  the  old  miser  keeps  a  tight  grip  on  his  money- 
bags," he  muttered,  and  he  felt  a  stronger  hankering  after  them 
than  he  had  ever  experienced  before.  "  He  probably  intends  to 
keep  his  daughters  out  of  the  reach  of  all  fortune-hunters,  and 
that  Kusha  has  had  her  lesson,  and  will  carry  it  out,  too,  by 
Jove !  But  two  can  play  at  that  game ;  and  Ella  Darryll  's 
worth  a  fellow's  making  some  effort  for,  and,  in  case  the  thing's 
put  through,  my  precious  father-in-law  will  have  to  come  down 
with  his  forgiveness,  and  his  figures,  too  !  I  swear,  Derrick 
Howe,  you  may  never  have  a  luckier  chance,  and  you'd  better 
go  in  for  that !  "  and  he  brought  his  hand  down  so  hard  on  the 
table  that  the  cut  glass  rung  again. 

So,  Rusha's  act  that  night  seemed  to  have  stimulated  the  very 
evil  she  had  intended  to  avert ;  but,  of  course,  she  could  not 
have  foreseen  that.  At  the  best,  we  all  go  stumbling  along  in 
the  mirk  and  mists  of  this  life,  and  cannot  see  the  consequences 
of  our  own  acts  to  ourselves  or  others,  but  through  all  mischief 
and  mistake  it  is  sure  to  come  right  at  last  with  those  who  trust 
God ;  else  were  life  a  failure,  and  annihilation  a  grace. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  259 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

RUSHA  heard  Tom's  quick  step  on  the  stairs,  and  her  heart 
sprang.  She  had  been  listening  for  it  for  the  last  hour,  for  she 
was  certain,  whatever  tidings  he  came  to  bring,  he  would  come 
to  her  with  them  first. 

So  Rusha  Darryll  had  been  sitting  in  her  own  room,  dream- 
ing pleasant  dreams  of  Tom's  future,  such  as  love  and  pride 
always  delight  in,  and  not  allowing  herself  to  indulge  a  moment's 
doubt  as  to  the  success  of  his  examination.  Still,  the  smiling 
eagerness  of  her  face  was  shaded  with  a  little  anxiety  as  she 
turned  it  towards  him  when  he  bounded  into  the  room, .but  his 
first  look  answered  all  doubts. 

"  O,  Tom,  I  have  no  need  to  ask  you !  I  see  it's  all  gone 
right.  Take  my  congratulations." 

"  How  do  you  know  it's  all  gone  right?"  seizing  her  by  the 
waist,  and  whirling  her  round  two  or  three  times,  a  sort  of  ebulli- 
tion for  his  triumphant  excitement.  "  How  do  you  know  but 
I  made  a  dead  failure  ?  " 

"  Dead  failure,  with  that  face !  Old  fellow,  you  can't  de- 
ceive me  !  Now  don't  keep  me  waiting,  Tom." 

"  Well,  then,  here  goes.  I  pulled  through  strong ;  didn't  fail 
on  a  single  question.  Tutor  said  if  I  kept  on  as  I  had  done, 
I  could  be  booked  for  '  Sophomore '  either  at  Yale  or  Harvard 
by  next  fall." 

"  O,  Tom,  isn't  that  splendid?  How  proud  I  am ! "  and  she 
clapped  her  hands. 

And  then  the  two  young  things  sat  down  and  talked  as  youth 
is  apt  to,  standing  on  the  threshold  of  man  and  womanhood,  and 
looking  off  to  the  pleasant  landscapes  of  the  future,  not  seeing 
the  steep  ways  that  lie  among  the  soft  slopes  of  the  hills,  and 


260  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

not  dreaming  that  the  mists  which  hang  there,  transfigured  by 
the  sunlight,  will  prove,  on  entering  them,  dark  and  boding 
clouds  in  which  dwell  mighty  storms.  All  this  the  brother  and 
sister,  sitting  there  and  launching  out  their  argosies  of  high 
hopes  on  the  hour,  never  dreamed  of,  nor  that  wreck  and  drown- 
ing awaited  theirs,  as  it  has  all  who  have  gone  before. 

"  Which  shall  it  be,  Harvard  or  Yale? "  inquired  Rusha. 

"  I  haven't  decided  yet.  I've  talked  with  plenty  of  fellows 
on  both  sides,  and  of  course  they  cry  up  their  own  ship.  But 
there's  no  use  being  in  a  hurry." 

"  Not  the  least,  Tom ;  and  then  there's  the  profession,  you 
know  1  " 

"  Time  enough  for  that,  too,"  he  answered.  And  after  this 
he  grew  thoughtful,  listening  to  his  sister,  who  went  on  winding 
the  festoons  of  pretty  fancies  about  his  future  in  a  love  and 
pride  that  were  quite  touching. 

She  remembered  afterwards,  although  it  did  not  strike  her  at 
the  time,  because  her  enthusiasm  was  at  such  fever  heat,  that  he 
listened  with  a  serious,  half  absent  smile ;  and  at  last  he  said 
suddenly,  looking  at  her,  — 

"  It  would  be  a  dreadful  disappointment  to  you,  Rusha,  if 
anything  should  turn,  up,  after  all,  that  should  keep  me  from  en- 
tering college  ?  " 

This  speech  at  once  arrested  the  swift-flowing  stream  of  her 
visions. 

"  Why,  Tom  Darryll,  what  can  have  put  that  idea  into  your 
head  ?  As  though  anything  could  turn  up  now  to  prevent  it !  " 

"  I  don't  suppose  there  will.  I  shall  never  give  up  now,  un- 
less it  is  for  so  good  a  reason  that  you  will  admit  its  force  too  ; 
for,  Rusha,  I  do  not  forget  that  I  owe  all  this  day's  success  to 
you  — that  I  should  never  have  reached  it  without  your  constant 
aid  and  stimulus.  I  don't  believe  many  brothers  can  say  so 
much  of  their  sisters." 

She  was  not  usually  prodigal  of  embraces,  but  she  had  pretty 
feminine  caresses  for  those  whom  she  carried  in  her  inmost 
heart.  She  laid  her  soft  cheek  down  against  Tom's  slightly 
bearded  lip. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  2G1 

"  0,  Tom,  you  don't  know  how  sweet  that  praise  is  !  " 

After  a  Avhile  they  heard  their  father  and  Guy  come  in,  and 
Rusha  went  down  stairs  and  announced  Tom's  success  with  a 
little  flourish  of  trumpets. 

"  Here  comes  our  student,  pa,  with  his  laurels  fresh  upon 
him ! " 

"Is  that  so,  Tom  ?  "  said  Mr.  Darryll,  lo'oking  pleased  enough, 
as  did  all  the  others ;  for,  though  the  father  had  originally  de- 
voted all  his  sons  to  a  business  career,  Andrew's  failure  had 
been  a  severe  check  to  his  ambition  on  that  score,  and  he  was 
quite  ready  to  allow  his  other  boys  to  indulge  their  own  pro- 
clivities, and  not  insensible  to  the  honor  of  having  some  "  schol- 
ars in  the  family." 

"  Tom,  do  come  over  here,  and  let  me  take  a  good  look ;  I'm 
really  proud  of  you,"  said  his  mother. 

"  O,  come  now,  I  don't  want  a  fuss  over  it  all.  'Twon't  pay, 
this  trip,"  said  Tom,  trying  to  look  a  little  bored  ;  but  for  all 
that,  he  went  and  stood  by  Mrs.  Darryll,  a  slender,  goodly  youth, 
that  any  mother's  heart  might  be  proud  of. 

"  Wasn't  it  tough,  coming  up  to  the  scratch  on  that  examina- 
tion?" asked  Guy,  surveying  his  brother  with  a  little  addi- 
tional respect. 

"  Well,  it  would  lay  a  fellow  flat,  unless  he  was  sound  on  the 
goose." 

Tom's  scholarship  had  not  yet  surmounted  his  vernacular  in 
his  own  home. 

At  this  point  they  all  went  out  to  dinner  in  an  unusually  affa- 
ble mood,  for  every  one  of  the  family  felt  that  Tom's  success 
reflected  some  credit  on  the  others  ;  but  in  the  general  pleasure 
more  than  one  glance  went  to  a  seat  that  had  long  been  vacant 
at  the  table  —  the  seat  that  had  been  Andrew's !  So  this 
pleasure  must  have  its  skeleton  at  the  feast  too  ! 

"  Tom,"  said  Eusha,  some  two  weeks  after  the  examination, 
*'  something  has  been  on  your  mind  of  late.  What  is  it?" 

"  O,  pshaw !  don't  bother  a  fellow,"  the  tone  having  just 
that  irritation  which  confirmed  her  remark. 


262  DAREYLL   GAP,   OR 

But  she  was  too  persistent  to  be  daunted  so  easily,  and  Tom 
had  of  late  grown,  almost  unconsciously  to  herself,  to  be  the 
darling  of  Rusha's  heart ;  her  affection  made  her  keenly  alive  to 
any  change  in  his  feeling  or  manner,  though  nothing  of  this  sort 
had  been  apparent  to  the  rest  of  the  family.  She  had  been  con- 
stantly watching  him  for  the  last  five  minutes,  as  he  stood  by  the 
window  in  the  little  alcove-study  up  stairs,  which  was  the  favor- 
ite resort  of  both,  while  he  absently  twirled  his  cap  round  the 
head  of  his  cane,  and  such  a  strange  seriousness  settled  on  his 
face  as  made  him  look  several  years  older. 

Her  question  had  drawn  him  out  of  his  absorption  with  a  start, 
and  he  was  about  to  leave  the  room  in  order  to  avoid  any  further 
inquisition,  when  his  sister  sprang  before  him  :  — 

"  O,  Tom,  you  are  not  going  to  put  me  off  this  way !  " 

"  Of  course  I  am.  When  a  fellow  can't  look  sober  a  moment 
without  a  girl's  prying  into  his  affairs,  he'd  better  take  him- 
self off!" 

She  looked  a  little  hurt.  "  I  might  have  expected  Andrew  or 
Guy  would  answer  me  in  that  way,  but  not  you,  Tom." 

Tom  looked  half  convicted,  half  provoked. 

"  I  don't  want  to  fret  you,  Rusha,  but  — <-  hang  it,  why  didn't 
you  keep  still  ?  " 

"  Because  I  have  done  that,  Tom,  as  long  as  I  could,  for  I've 
seen  clearly,  during  the  last  week,  that  something  was  on  your 
mind,  and  that  it  was  always  uppermost  too,  no  matter  what 
you  were  saying  or  doing.  I  can't  be  deceived  easily.  You 
haven't  been  yourself  of  late,  and  whatever  the  trouble  is,  I 
thought  you  would  share  it  with  me." 

u  We  can't  always  share  our  troubles,  you  know,"  said  Tom 
Darryll,  admitting  by  this  general  remark  all  that  Rusha's  per- 
sonal one  had  claimed. 

"  But,  Tom,"  a  flash  of  fear  in  her  face,  "  this  trouble  is 
nothing  wrong  —  nothing  you  would  be  ashamed  or  afraid  to 
tell  me?" 

Tom  Darryll  drew  himself  up  with  something  of  manly  dig- 
nity and  force  in  his  look  and  manner  that  Rusha  had  never 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  263 

seen  there  before.  "  Rusha,"  he  said,  "  whatever  the  trouble 
is,  it  is  one  that  I  am  not  ashamed  of  before  God  —  be  assured 
of  that ! " 

"  O,  Tom,  forgive  me  —  what  a  relief  that  is  !  —  and  now  do 
let  me  help  you  bear  this  !  "  She  had  drawn  close  to  him,  her 
pleading  eyes  on  his  face. 

"  It  would  do  no  good,  Rusha.  Even  you  cannot  help  me 
here,"  voice  and  manner  quite  softened  now. 

"  I  wish  you  would  try  me,  though." 

He  looked  at  her  a  moment,  with  something  in  his  thought 
which  she  could  not  probe.  "  Not  yet,"  he  said  ;  "  I  know  you 
are  made  of  the  real  stuff,  Rusha  —  of  the  sort  that  holds  good 
through  the  hardest  strain.  One  of  these  days,  it  may  be  I 
shall  give  it  a  trial.  0,  Rusha,  if  it  comes  to  that,  you  will 
not  fail  me  ?  " 

"  If  it  comes  to  what,  Tom  ? "  her  face  full  of  perplexed 
alarm. 

"  No  matter.  Perhaps  it  will  never  amount  to  anything ; " 
and  with  this  ambiguous  answer,  he  hurried  away. 

All  day  long  Rusha  turned  over  his  words  in  her  thought, 
but  their  ambiguity  baffled  her.  She  was  sure  that  something 
which  had  vital  issues  was  at  work  in  Tom's  soul ;  but  though 
she  must  content  herself  to  rest  in  ignorance  of  the  nature  of 
his  secret,  she  could  brace  all  doubts  and  fears  against  that  look 
of  his,  when  he  said,  "  Rusha,  I  ana  not  ashamed  of  it  before 
God ! " 

A  week  went  by  without  any  allusion  on  either  side  to  the 
matter,  and  one  evening  Rusha  met  Tom  in  the  front  hall,  on 
his  return  home.  "  O,  come  up  stairs.  Don't  wait  a  moment," 
she  said,  in  a  little  flurry  of  excitement.  "  I've  something  to 
show  you."  He  followed  her  up  stairs,  hardly  speaking  a  word  ; 
and  when  they  reached  the  little  study,  she  pointed  him  trium- 
phantly to  a  marble  statuette  on  the  mantel,  which  must  have 
been,  to  any  artist's  eyes,  the  central  grace  and  charm  of  the 
little  studio,  although,  as  Rusha  had  had  the  sole  arrangement 
of  this  room,  there  were  choice  bits  of  painting  — a  rare  Hush 


264  DAEEYLL    GAP,    OR 

of  sunset  facing  a  long  glitter  of  sea  waves,  and  fine  engrav- 
ings, and  delicate  bronzes,  and  quaint  brackets  scattered  about ; 
but  after  all,  the  artistic  life  of  the  room  centred  itself,  as  I 
said,  in  the  statuette  on  the  mantel. 

A  woman's  face  in  its  early  youth,  with  such  fine  delicacy 
of  moulding  in  every  feature,  such  tender,  womanly  sweetness 
in  every  lineament,  and  instinct  with  so  much  grace  of  heart 
and  character,  that  it  fairly  thrilled  one's  eyes  with  tears  to 
look  upon  it. 

"  O,  isn't  it  beautiful,  Tom ! "  said  Rusha,  tossing  aside  the 
curtain,  so  that  the  sunset  flashed  a  stream  of  gold  over  the 
whole,  and  she  gazed  with  hungry  eyes  on  the  tender  glory  of 
the  face  whose  spirit  her  own  heart  gave  her  the  key  to  inter- 
pret. "  Do  you  know  who  it  is,  Tom?" 

"  Of  course  I  do  —  Shakspeare's  Ophelia." 

"  The  marble  there,"  she  continued,  half  addressing  herself, 
"  grasps  and  holds  my  very  conception  of  her.  How  often, 
when  I  read  Hamlet,  the  tender  radiance  of  that  face  has 
seemed  to  shine  up  to  me  from  the  page  —  until  I  have  won- 
dered whether  Ophelia  was  dearer  to  Shakspeare's  soul  than 
to  mine ;  and  still,  if  one  looks  long  and  deep  enough,  there 
will  be  found,  through  all  the  haunting  sweetness  of  the  face, 
some  lingering  hint  of  sadness  —  a  faint  foreshadowing  of  the 
awful  tragedy  of  the  fate  beyond;  and  that  makes  me  think 
how  exquisitely  those  words  suit  it. 

'  Nature  is  fine  in  love :  and  -where  'tis  fine 
It  Bends  some  precious  instance  of  itself 
After  the  thing  it  loves ! ' 

O,  morning  sunrise,  and  joy  of  Hamlet's  life,  in  what  awful 
gloom  you  went  down  at  last !  " 

"  But  I  always  think  of  Ophelia,  not  as  Hamlet's  love,  but 
as  Laertes's  sister,"  said  Tom.  "  That  is  the  reason  I  like  her 
best  of  all  Shakspeare's  women  !  " 

She  saw  at  once  the  association  that  was  in  his  own  mind, 
and  the  grateful  glance  which  beamed  on  him  was  eloquent  in 
thanks  beyond  all  reach  of  words. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  265 

"Yes,"  said  Tom,  drawing  a  little  closer  to  her  side,  "I 
think,  Rusha,  you  would  be  just  such  a  sister  as  Ophelia.  Do 
you  remember  that  parting  with  Laertes,  when  he  went  to 
France?" 

"Do  I  remember  my  alphabet?  But  why  do  you  ask  that 
question,  Tom?" 

"  Ophelia  was  brave  to  the  last.  And  yet,  Rusha,  France 
was  farther  from  Denmark,  and  the  journey  was  more  danger- 
ous in  that  day,  than  it  is  now  to  —  " 

"  To  what,  Tom?''  for  he  stopped  suddenly. 

"  To  the  Southern  battle-fields,  Rusha  !  " 

"  O,  Tom,  what  does  that  mean?"  a  quick  terror  leaping 
into  face  and  voice. 

He  drew  her  close  to  him.  "  Don't  you  know,  Rusha,  that  I 
said  the  time  might  come  to  test  you  ?  " 

She  wrenched  herself  away,  her  white  face  testifying  for  her 
that  there  was  one  trial  she  could  not  bear. 

"  What  is  it,  Tom  ?     Be  quick  !  " 

"  I  have  enlisted  in  the  army  to-day,  Rusha !  " 

She  sank  down  into  a  chair,  too  weak  to  stand,  but  seeing 
with  her  quick  comprehension  the  whole  thing. 

"  You  are  not  going  to  the  war,  Tom !  It  isn't  to  be  so  much 
as  named.  I  never  will  consent !  "  her  words  fighting  wildly 
against  the  thought. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  Tom  could  compel  her  to  listen  to 
him  ;  but  he  did  at  last,  sufficiently  to  convince  her  that  this 
was  no  mere  fit  of  boyish  enthusiasm  with  him,  but  a  steady 
purpose,  which  had  been  maturing  for  weeks  in  his  mind,  and 
to  which  he  had  at  last  brought  all  the  forces  of  his  will.  But 
if  she  listened,  it  was  only  to  oppose  him. 

"  You  are  not  fit  for  the  service.  You  know  you  never  could 
stand  the  marches,  the  hardships,  the  life  of  a  soldier.  It  is 
absurd  to  think  of  it,  at  your  age.  Let  others  go  who  are  able 
to  bear  it." 

So  Rusha's  love,  and  perhaps  her  selfishness,  pleaded  against  his 
resolve,  and  Tom  could  not  move  her,  not  even  when  hu  suid, 
23 


266  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  Where  would  our  country  be  —  the  country  you  said  you 
were  ready  to  die  for,  Rusha —  if  all  women  had  talked  as 
you  do  ?  " 

"  And  I  will  stand  by  my  words.  I  am  ready  to  die  for  my 
country,  but  not  to  give  you  up  a  useless  and  unnecessary  sac- 
rifice. But  one  thing  is  certain — pa  will  never  give  his  consent, 
aiid  you  are  not  of  age.  You  cannot  go  without  that." 

"  Rusha,"  said  Tom,  with  a  kind  of  sorrowful  reproach  she 
had  never  heard  in  his  voice  before,  "  I  had  expected  something 
better  of  you  than  this.  I  thought  you  would  be  brave,  aud 
stand  by  me  to  the  last,  and,  though  I  knew  just  what  I'd  got 
to  face  from  the  rest  of  the  family,  I  felt  sure  of  you ;  and  now 
you,  too,  have  failed  me  !  " 

His  words  smote  her  to  the  quick,  but  she  clung  still  to  the 
old  defence,  making  herself  believe  that  it  was  the  only  right 
one.  The  talk  ended  at  last  with  Tom's  saying,  — 

"  Well,  Rusha,  it  was  your  own  words  that  kindled  the  first 
feeling  of  patriotism  in  me,  and  made  me  conscious  that  I  had 
a  country  to  love  and  serve.  I  thought  you'd  be  on  my  side 
when  I  told  father ;  but  I  see  I've  got  to  weather  that  gale  all 
alone,  and  the  sooner  it's  over  the  better  ;  "  and  he  went  down, 
leaving  Rusha  sitting  there  alone  with  the  tears  on  her  cheeks. 

She  listened  for  his  footsteps  all  the  way  down,  and  hoped  he 
would  turn  back,  and  felt  somehow  that  it  was  not  right  to  leave 
Tom  to  brave  her  father  alone ;  but  then,  as  she  told  herself 
over  and  over,  she  never  could  help  him  to  go  to  the  war,  and 
just  kill  himself  without  doing  anybody  any  good  —  "  her  own 
dear,  noble,  darling  Tom ! "  and  so  she  sat  there,  shivering  in 
the  warm  room,  until  the  night  came  and  shut  her  up  in  its 
darkness,  and  then  she,  too,  went  down  stairs. 

She  found  her  mother  protesting  and  crying,  and  her  father 
just  where  she  had  expected. 

"Do  you  know  what  Tom's  been  and  done?"  screamed 
Agnes,  as  soon  as  her  eldest  sister  entered  the  room. 

"  Yes,  I  know  it  all." 

"I  hope  you  haven't  encouraged  this  nonsense?"  said  hejs 
father,  turning  angrily  upon  her. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  267 

"  No,  father  ;  though  I  houor  Tom's  motives  from  my  heart, 
I  have  strenuously  opposed  his  joining  the  army,  because  of  his 
youth.  He  never  could  endure  the  life  there." 

Tom  stood  alone  by  the  mantel.  His  face  was  pale,  but  it 
had  some  force  and  character  which  impressed  his  family  in 
spite  of  themselves.  He  spoke  up  now  :  — 

"  Rusha  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter.  I  never 
consulted  her  until  to-night,  and  she  was  down  on  me  like  all 
the  rest  of  you." 

"  A  pretty  piece  of  business,  sir,"  broke  out  his  father,  wrath- 
fully  enough.  "  I'd  like  to  know  how  long  you  think  you  could 
stand  being  out  in  all  sorts  of  weather,  and  the  long  marches, 
and  sleeping  in  the  mud,  and  starvation  to  boot?  I  fancy 
twenty-four  hours  would  take  the  romance  out  of  you  pretty 
thoroughly." 

"  O,  pa,  don't  be  hard  on  poor  Tom,"  broke  in  Rusha. 
"  His  desire  to  serve  his  country  is  a  most  noble  one,  although 
I  think  he  has  made  a  mistake." 

"  Well,"  paying  no  attention  to  his  daughter's  remark,  "  the 
upshot  of  the  matter  is,  that  I  shall  go  down  to-morrow  and 
swear  that  you're  unfit  for  service.  Next  time,  sir,  you'll 
remember  to  consult  me  before  you  put  your  neck  in  such  a 
scrape." 

"  I  did  think,  Tom,  you  had  more  sense,"  added  Ella. 

"And  I  should  never  have  another  moment's  peace  of  my 
life,  Tom,"  sobbed  his  mother.  "  I  should  see  you  shot  dead 
before  my  eyes,  or  starving  to  death  in  those  dreadful  Southern 
prisons,  or  having  your  legs  sawed  off  in  a  hospital  —  "  Poor 
Mrs.  Darryll's  imagination  quite  overcame  her  here,  and  she 
sobbed  harder  than  ever. 

"  Other  mothers  have  been  patriotic  enough  to  give  up  sons 
as  young  and  as  dear  as  I,"  persisted  Tom,  in  a  most  unsympa- 
thetic tone,  it  must  be  admitted.  "  If  everybody  thought  ami 
felt  as  you  do  here,  there  wouldn't  be  a  country  to  fight  lor 
long  ;  that's  a  dead  certainty." 

Tom,  you're  nothing  but  a  boy,  and  you've  got  the  war 


268  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

fever,"  said  his  father,   angrily.      "  It   generally   attacks  one 
about  your  age  ;  but  it's  a  comfort  that  it  doesn't  last  long." 

"  And  to  think,"  interposed  Ella  again,  who  numbered  among 
her  favored  admirers  several  graduates  of  West  Point,  "  that 
the  foolish  fellow  was  going  in  as  a  mere  private,  taking  all  the 
hardship  and  misery  without  a  particle  of  honor  or  glory  !  If 
he  was  an  officer,  now,  it  would  be  quite  a  different  matter." 

Tom  took  this  family  fire  bravely,  for  the  most  part  silently, 
standing  by  the  mantel,  his  face  in  a  dark  shadow,  that  might 
be  sullenness,  but  which  Rusha  felt  was  something  nobler  than 
that,  and  her  brother  was  never  quite  so  handsome  in  her  eyes 
as  at  that  moment.  She  waited  for  him  to  speak,  but  he  did 
not  seem  inclined  to  self-defence ;  so  she  came  to  the  rescue. 

"  I  think  that  was  Tom's  greatest  '  honor  and  glory,'  that  he 
was  ready  to  go  in  as  a  mere  private.  I  never  was  quite  so 
proud  of  him  as  I  am  this  hour." 

"  There,  pa,  didn't  I  tell  you  so  ? "  said  Ella,  with  trium- 
phant significance.  "  I  knew  Rusha  would  take  Tom's  part." 

"  Yon  are  mistaken  for  once,  Ella.  I  think  Tom  has  acted 
hastily,  rashly,  in  this  matter.  As  he  was  not  of  age,  it  was 
certainly  his  duty  to  consult  father  before  he  enlisted.  But  the 
great  sacrifice  of  home  and  comfort,  of  health  and  life,  that  he 
was  ready  to  make  for  his  country's  sake,  is  a  greater  glory  to 
him  than  all  the  honors  and  commissions  in  the  world." 

Perhaps  this  reasoning  had  some  force  with  John  Darryll, 
for  his  tones  were  certainly  mollified  as  he  said,  — 

"  Well,  the  long  and  short  of  it  is,  Tom  won't  be  his  own 
master  until  he's  twenty-one,  and  by  that  time  he'll  thank  me 
for  doing  just  what  I  shall  in  this  matter." 

"  See  if  I  do  ! "  said  Tom,  bringing  down  his  hand  on  the 
mantel  in  a  way  that  spoke  the  hard  defiance  he  had  too  much 
respect  for  his  father  to  utter  in  any  other  way.  So  Tom's 
dream  of  going  to  the  war  ended. 

When  Rusha  went  up  stairs  that  evening,  she  found  her 
brother  sitting  there  alone  in  a  brown  study,  his  forehead  propped 
up  on  his  hand. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


269 


"  Come,"  she  said,  "  let's  have  a  little  feast  of  Hamlet,  Tom, 
with  Ophelia  smiling  down  on  us  from  the  mantel  there." 

"  If  you  like,  Rusha,"  the  tone  not  unkindly,  but  only  a 
dreary  acquiescence  in  it. 

"  O,  Tom,  you  are  not  going  to  take  it  so?  It  is  really  for 
the  best." 

"  It  may  seem  so  to  you,  Rusha,  but  I  cannot  see  it  in  that 
light." 

"  Don't  discuss  it  now,"  with  a  little  deprecatory  gesture. 
"  But,  Tom,  you  will  take  the  disappointment  bravely,  and  go 
back  to  your  studies  just  as  though  you  had  never  had  this  pur- 
pose ?  " 

"  I  shall  go  back  to  them,  Rusha,  and  do  my  best ;  but  for 
all  that  my  heart  will  not  be  there  —  remember  that ;  my  heart 
will  not  be  there." 

Something  in  his  face,  as  he  said  these  words,  made  her  feel 
that  the  purpose  was  vital  with  him,  that  it  held  in  it  all  the 
strength  and  fire  of  his  youth,  and  that  it  was  one  of  those 
abiding  things  which  no  denial  could  change. 

And  from  that  time,  although  the  matter  was  seldom,  if  ever, 
alluded  to  betwixt  the  brother  and  sister,  Rusha  was  haunted 
by  a  feeling  of  secret  uneasiness  and  dissatisfaction.  She  had 
a  conviction  that  Tom  felt  she  had  not  been  true  to  her  highest 
self,  and,  although  she  believed,  as  she  had  from  the  beginning, 
that  he  had  neither  the  age  nor  the  strength  for  any  real  service 
to  his  country,  still,  now  that  the  sacrifice  had  come  right  home 
to  her,  she  put  away  the  thought  with  a  quick  terror,  realizing, 
as  she  never  could  before,  what  the  suffering  must  be  to  other 
women  who  had  given  to  the  war  gifts  precious  to  their  souls, 
as  Tom  was  to  hers. 

And  though  in  her  case  reason  and  judgment  indorsed  in  a 
large  sense  the  verdict  of  her  feelings,  she  felt,  had  it  been  dif- 
ferent, how  awful  the  surrender  must  be.  Was  she  equal  to 
it?  Was  all  her  love  of  country,  all  that  exaltation  of  sacrifice, 
to  which,  in  their  fervor  of  patriotism,  her  feelings  had  some- 
times seemed  to  mount,  a  mere  poetic  enthusiasm,  which  would 
23* 


270  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

not  face  the  ordeal  through  which  thousands  of  her  country- 
women had  passed  ? 

Rusha's  shuddering  soul  used  to  ask  these  questions,  whose 
plummet  line  sounded  the  great  deeps  of  her  life.  She  had 
often  thought  if  she  were  a  man  she  would  go  to  the  war,  but 
if  Tom  —  Tom,  with  all  the  promise  of  his  young  manhood  — 
with  the  boy-look  hardly  yet  vanishing  from  the  face  that  was 
moulding  itself  into  lines  of  strength  and  maturity  —  if  Tom 
were  to  go  to  the  war,  what  would  become  of  her ! 

Poor  Rusha !  The  thunder  of  battle-fields,  the  black,  swirl- 
ing banners  of  smoke,  the  dying  faces  of  men  lying  low  on 
trampled  grasses,  haunted  her  always  ;  and  that  awful  question 
of  duty-that-might-be  stalked  through  all  her  days  and  nights 
—  a  question  that  Rusha  Darryll  was  not  of  the  sort  to  push 
aside  or  lay  to  sleep.  And  meanwhile  she  clung  to  Tom  with 
some  new  yearning  fondness,  which  touched  his  young  sensibili- 
ties, and  developed  in  him  also  some  new  tenderness  of  nature 
and  manner. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  271 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

TIME  moved  on  with  the  Darryll  household,  as  it  does  with 
all  of  us,  and  each  assimilated  nourishment,  after  its  own  kind, 
and  developed  and  matured  its  own  moral  individuality,  "  for 
good  or  for  evil." 

Among  other  things,  of  more  or  less  interest,  that  happened 
to  the  family,  Tom  made  choice  of  his  future  Alma  Mater. 

To  use  his  own  words  to  Rusha,  "  several  of  the  best  fellows 
in  his  class  '  talked  Yale  to  the  skies,' "  while  its  comparative 
proximity  to  his  home  made  a  balance  decidedly  in  its  favor 
with  all  his  family.  So,  in  due  time,  Tom  entered  college,  his 
absence  making  a  great  blank  in  Rusha's  life,  although  frequent 
letters  and  flying  visits  went  far  to  keep  up  the  old  bond  betwixt 
the  two,  for  the  feeling  which  united  the  brother  and  sister 
struck  its  infinitesimal  rootlets  into  deeper  soil  than  that  of 
relationship. 

As  the  spring  advanced,  the  plan  for  the  summer's  campaign 
had  become  a  prominent  topic  of  conversation,  especially  with 
Ella  and  Agnes,  but  all  this  was  suddenly  cut  short  by  a  serious 
and  protracted  illness  of  Mrs.  Darryll. 

The  danger  passed ;  a  long,  slow  convalescence  followed,  so 
that  it  was  midsummer  before  any  of  the  family  left  home,  Tom 
—  for  it  was  vacation  now  at  Yale  —  assuming  with  Guy  the 
charge  of  the  girls  at  the  Springs,  whither  it  was  arranged  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Darryll  should  shortly  follow  with  Rusha.  The  eldest 
sister  was  the  subject  of  a  good  many  sincere  condolences  on  the 
part  of  her  brothers  and  sisters  for  this  sacrifice  of  herself,  as 
each  one  regarded  it,  to  her  mother. 

"  How  strange  it  is,"  she  answered,  on  one  of  these  occasions, 
with  a  little  perplexed  smile  at  the  kindly  buzz  of  young  voices 


272  DARRTLL    GAP,   OR 

which  went  on  around  her,  "  that  people  oftenest  get  praise  in 
this  life  when  they  merit  it  least !  Here  is  a  case  in  point. 
You  all  think  I  deserve  a  great  deal  of  credit,  and  look  upon 
me  as  a  sort  of  martyr,  when  I  don't  merit  the  least  particle  of 
your  sympathy.  My  decision  to  stay  at  home  with  ma  hasn't 
cost  me  a  pang.  I  wouldn't  exchange  the  next  two  weeks  with 
you  in  that  hot,  tiresome,  fashion-ridden  Saratoga.  Ugh !  " 

"  Do  hear  the  girl  now  !  "  said  Guy,  with  whom  this  place 
had  agreeable  associations  of  horse-racing,  and  a  good  time  in 
general.  "  As  though  Saratoga  wouldn't  be  head  and  shoulders 
above  every  other  place  in  this  country  for  the  next  six  weeks  !  " 

Rusha  looked  at  her  brother  a  moment,  with  that  half  per- 
plexed, half  absorbed  expression  which  was  one  of  the  phases  of 
her  face. 

"  I  thank  the  Lord,  Guy,"  she  said,  in  a  tone  which  left  no 
doubt  either  of  the  reverence  or  fervor  of  her  feeling,  "  that  He 
made  us  to  differ !  " 

A  general  explosion  of  laughter  followed  this  speech. 

"  You've  got  it  this  time,  Guy  !  "  said  Agnes,  merrily. 

"  That's  like  nobody  in  the  world  but  you,  Rusha  !  "  Tom 
gave  her  a  pretty  sharp  blow  on  the  shoulder,  but  there  was 
some  hidden  approval  in  it. 

"  As  for  being  like  Guy,"  added  Ella,  "I  must  say  that  youth 
doesn't,  at  present,  embody  my  ideal  of  the  virtues  or  the 
graces  !  "  Here  there  was  a  compound  snicker  at  Guy's  expense. 
"  But  I  don't  think  I  should  see  any  particular  cause  for  thank- 
ing the  Lord  if  He  made  me  to  differ  from  everybody  else  in  the 
world,  and  you  do  that,  Rusha !  " 

"  You  mean  He  has  made  her  of  a  little  extra  stuff —  that's 
all,"  answered  Tom,  who  of  late  always  took  up  the  gauntlet  in 
his  sister's  defence. 

So  the  household  talk  would  go  ;  with  a  good  deal  of  blunt- 
ness  and  more  or  less  of  sparring,  it  is  true,  but  at  bottom,  the 
old  family  love  that  held  them  all  so  close  in  its  strong  bond, 
and  that  would  make  these  days  like  lamps  shedding  down  on 
all  the  manhood  and  womanhood  to  come  the  tender,  sacred 
light  of  youth  and  home. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  273 

In  due  time,  the  young  people  took  their  flight  to  Saratoga, 
leaving  a  strange  silence  in  the  house  that  was  always  so  full  of 
life  and  bustle  of  one  sort  and  another  —  a  silence  not  ungrateful 
to  Rusha,  as  it  fell  with  singularly  soothing  effect  upon  spirits 
too  apt  to  be  haunted  by  a  vague  restlessness.  She  enjoyed 
too,  at  this  period,  the  society  of  her  father  and  mother,  just  as 
she  had  never  done  before. 

-  As  it  was  midsummer,  Mr.  Darryll  was  less  harassed  with 
business  cares,  and  passed  more  time  than  usual  at  home ;  and 
as  their  fashionable  friends  had  all  left  the  city,  Rusha  was 
troubled  with  no  outside  friction.  At  the  end  of  two  weeks, 
Mrs.  Darryll's  physician  considered  her  sufficiently  recovered  to 
take  the  journey  for  that  change  of  air  which,  now  the  dead 
summer  heats  wei*e  coming  on,  she  greatly  needed. 

The  day  before  they  left,  Mr.  Darryll  returned  home  a  little 
after  midday,  surprising  Rusha  on  the  stairs,  who  was  busy  as 
a  bee  with  those  ten  thousand  things  that  one  finds  to  do  in  the 
last  hours  that  precede  a  journey. 

"Where  is  your  mother?"  was  his  first  question. 

"  She's  just  returned  from  a  little  ride,  and  is  now  lying  down." 

"  How  did  she  bear  it?  " 

"  O,  bravely.  I  could  see  it  did  her  good,  and  she  will  be 
better  prepared  for  the  journey  to-morrow." 

"  Come  in  here,  Rusha.  I  want  to  see  you  alone  a  few  min- 
utes ;  "  and  he  turned  towards  the  sitting-room. 

She  darted  up  a  quick  glance  of  apprehension  into  his  face. 
One's  fears  are  apt  to  take  the  alarm  easily  after  they  have 
passed  through  a  terrible  shock  ;  but  there  was  nothing  wrong 
in  her  father's  look  now.  She  went  and  sat  down  by  him, 
leaning  forward  and  looking  up  to  him  with  a  little  smile  on 
her  face  —  a  young,  fair  face,  of  which  any  father  might  have 
been  fond  and  proud. 

Perhaps  some  thought  of  this  kind  was  in  John  Darryll's 
mind,  for  he  smiled  a  little  and  patted  it. 

"  I  think  you  must  have  had  a  dreary  time,  daughter,"  he  said, 
"  with  two  such  prosy  old  people  as  your  mother  and  myse 

"  O,  no,  pa  ;  I  think  you  arc  a  great  deal  more  agreeable  than 


274  DARRYLL   GAP,   OB 

most  young  folks  I  happen  to  know  —  that  is,  when  you  are  in 
a  good  humor,"  her  native  truthfulness  not  letting  her  color  the 
real  fact,  even  for  love's  sake. 

Mr.  Darryll  laughed  pleasantly.  Then  he  put  his  hand  in 
his  vest  pocket,  and  drew  out  something  in  very  dainty  wrap- 
pings of  silver  paper. 

"  Can  you  guess  what  this  is,  Husha?  " 

"  No,  pa,  I'm  sure  I  can't,"  those  sweet,  bright  eyes  of  hers- 
full  of  amazed  curiosity,  for  John  Darryll  was  not  much  in  the 
habit  of  doing  such  things.  "  A  present  for  me?" 

"  Yes,  it's  just  that.  I  suppose  I've  been  making  a  fool  of 
myself  to  get  it." 

"  O,  no,  you  haven't  either,  anything  of  that  sort.  But  I'm 
just  crazy  to  see  it." 

He  untied  the  wrappings  with  a  deliberation  that  was  tanta- 
lizing. I  think  he  enjoyed  enough  the  sight  of  her  eager,  pleased 
face  to  be  willing  to  prolong  it.  First  a  small  white  box  dis- 
closed itself;  inside  of  this  was  an  oblong  jewel  case. 

Rusha  held  her  breath  ;  her  father  touched  the  spring ;  there 
was  a  sudden  leap  and  flash  in  her  eyes,  and  then  she  saw  the 
whole ;  on  a  leaf  of  velvet,  white  as  a  heap  of  fresh  snow- 
flakes,  lay  the  clusters  of  diamonds,  with  a  fiery  beat  and  quiver 
of  light  at  the  heart  of  each  —  the  set  altogether  finer  than  the 
one  she  had  given  away. 

"  O,  pa,  are  those  for  me?"  her  face  all  broken  up. 

"  For  you,  my  child.  You  didn't  deserve  them,  I  know,  after 
the  trick  you  served  me  about  those  others ;  but  as  you  were 
going  to  Saratoga,  and  women  are  all  silly  enough  to  want  to 
show  off  their  gimcracks  there,  I  concluded  to  throw  away  a 
little  more  of  my  money  on  these." 

"  O,  pa,  pa  !  "  and  she  was  clinging  to  him  and  sobbing. 

He  had  hardly  suspected  that  she  would  take  it  in  this  way, 
but  he  could  not  know  what  memories  the  sight  of  those  dia- 
monds had  suddenly  quickened  in  his  daughter's  thoughts. 

"  Come,  come,"  he  said,  a  little  troubled  by  the  continued 
sobbing ;  "I  was  prepared  for  a  very  different  kind  of  thanks 
from  these." 


I 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  275 

"  O,  pa,  you  don't  know  how  I  thank  you,"  she  managed  to 
say  at  last ;  but  even  then  her  thanks  were  not  so  much  for  the 
diamonds,  as  for  this  proof  of  his  confidence  in  her  —  a  proof 
which  touched  her  to  the  quick. 

"  Well,  then  ;  dry  up  your  tears,  and  make  yourself  look  as  nice 
as  you  can  in  them,  only  don't  get  rid  of  these  in  such  a  foolish, 
mysterious  way  as  you  did  of  the  others  —  mind  what  I  say, 
now." 

There  flashed  suddenly  across  Rusha  an  impulse  to  tell  her 
father  where  the  diamonds  had  gone.  She  was  apt  to  do  vital 
things  swiftly,  as  you  have  seen ;  the  only  wonder  being  that 
her  impulses  so  seldom,  in  any  great  emergency,  led  her  wrong. 
It  seemed  to  her  that  this  gift  deserved  to  purchase  her  confi- 
dence, and  that  she  owed  it  to  her  father  now  to  tell  him  how 
she  had  disposed  of  her  jewels. 

John  Darryll  was  not,  as  you  know,  a  man  of  a  fine  and  sym- 
pathetic nature.  The  best  side  of  him  was  his  family  one,  and 
Rusha  usually  found  the  truest  part  of  that.  His  wife  honestly 
believed  herself  a  Christian  woman,  and  would  have  been  hor- 
rified at  anybody's  doubting  it.  The  sons  and  daughters  she 
had  borne  were  growing  up  into  manhood  and  womanhood  about 
her ;  and  all  this,  one  would  suppose,  must  have  softened  her 
nature  —  must  have  tended  to  make  it  broad,  tender,  pitiful 
for  all  sins,  especially  those  of  the  young  and  fallen  of  her  own 
sex,  and  yet  —  I  hate  to  write  it  of  her,  but  it  is  the  truth  — 
her  eldest  daughter  felt  somehow  that  it  would  be  easier  to  go 
to  the  hard,  bustling,  business  man  and  tell  the  story  of  Jane 
Maxwell ;  that  somehow  she  would  be  likely  to  find  with  him 
a  deeper  appreciation  of  what  she  herself  had  done  for  the  girl 
than  she  would  meet  with  her  mother.  On  this  feeling 
Rusha  spoke  :  — 

"  Pa,  I  want  to  tell  you  where  my  diamonds  went." 

"  I  have  always  thought  it  my  right  to  know,  child." 

The  diamonds  lay  in  her  lap,  pouring  out  from  fountains 
which  never  failed,  the  burning  joy  of  their  life.  Rusha  laid 
her  clasped  hands  on  her  father's  shoulder,  and  leaned  her  face 
on  that,  so  she  could  not  see  his  while  she  talked.  And  in  this 


276  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

way  she  told  him  the  whole  story,  faltering  sometimes,  but 
never  quite  losing  control  of  her  voice. 

That  morning  Kusha  would  not  have  believed  that  all  the 
world  could  have  hired  her  to  confide  Andrew's  sin,  and  her 
interview  with  Jane  Maxwell,  to  her  father ;  now  she  almost 
forgot  to  whom  she  was  talking,  losing  all  thought  of  herself  in 
the  strong  feeling  which  her  story  inspired. 

Her  father  interrupted  her  but  once,  and  that  was  with  a  start 
and  a  half  smothered  curse  on  Andrew,  when  he  first  compre- 
hended who  the  girl  was  that  Rusha  had  met  on  the  steamer ; 
then  he  sat  quite  silent,  drinking  in  every  word  that  followed. 

"  That  was  where  my  diamonds  went,  pa  !  " 

When  he  spoke,  which  was  not  for  several  moments,  it  was 
in  a  voice  unlike  any  she  had  ever  heard  from  him  before. 

"Well,  my  child,  I  shall  not  blame  you.  The  chances  are, 
that  your  diamonds  were  lost,  so  far  as  doing  the  girl  any  good, 
went." 

"  But,  pa,  had  not  Andrew  wronged  her,  and  did  I  not  owe 
her  some  reparation  ?  " 

"  That  is  not  the  way  the  world  has  of  looking  at  these 
things." 

"  The  world  has  always  had  a  way  of  looking  at  things  from 
a  wrong  stand-point,  pa." 

He  did  not  seek  to  carry  the  argument  any  further.  I  think 
just  then,  however  his  future  talk  and  life  might  deny  it,  John 
Darryll  was  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Rusha's  words. 

"  Well,  you  meant  right,  child ;  only,  if  you  were  as  old 
as  your  father,  you  wouldn't  be  quite  so  ready  to  trust  human 
nature.  I've  but  little  doubt  your  diamonds  were  thrown  away." 

"  I  have,  pa.  You  didn't  see  that  girl's  face  when  she 
thanked  me.  But  in  either  case  I  am  not  responsible.  I  did 
what  I  could." 

Just  then  Mrs.  Darryll  walked  into  the  room,  and  Rusha 
held  up  her  diamonds. 

"  See,  ma,  what  a  present  I've  had  from  pa  !  "  But  Rusha 
did  not  tell  her  mother  then  nor  thereafter  where  the  others  had 
gone. 


WEE  THEE  IT  PAID.  277 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

THIS  year's  season  at  the  Springs  was  not  just  like  the  last 
to  any  of  the  Darryll  family,  although  its  younger  portion, 
throwing  themselves  into  the  general  tide  of  gayeties,  perhaps 
scarcely  realized  the  change.  But  the  mother's  health  rendered 
a  certain  degree  of  quiet  indispensable,  in  her  own  apartments 
at  least,  and  the  first  glamour  was  worn  off,  and  all  the  old 
haunts  were  somehow  associated,  more  or  less,  with  Andrew. 

We  all  know,  or  shall  have  to,  some  time,  each  for  his  own 
soul,  how  the  memory  of  a  secret,  abiding  sorrow  clings  to 
one  everywhere ;  its  live  nerve  of  pain  is  always  exposed, 
always  quivering.  It  seems  sometimes  as  though  everything  in 
earth  and  air  conspired  to  add  some  fresh  pang  to  that  one  sore 
hurt  in  our  souls  —  to  hold  it  up  always  before  our  thought  — 
to  haunt  us  at  all  times  —  a  living  grief,  sadder  and  sharper,  O, 
my  reader,  than  any  dead  one  ! 

For  Rusha  Darryll  nothing  in  this  world  could  be  just  what 
it  had  been  a  year  ago.  In  their  secret  and  silent  ways  the 
forces  of  grief  had  nourished  and  strengthened  the  best  part  of 
her  nature.  Wealth  and  luxury  had  not,  with  their  slow  but 
certain  paralysis,  warped  and  deadened  her  finer  self,  and  from 
the  outset  the  danger  to  her  had  lain  in  this  direction. 

One  morning  Tom  and  his  sister  stood  at  the  window  watch- 
ing the  crowds  that  nocked  down  to  the  Springs  for  an  early 
draught  of  the  waters.  On  the  outside  it  was  a  pleasant  sight ; 
the  groups  of  figures,  in  slow,  graceful  motion  ;  the  elegant 
dresses,  the  strong,  bright,  picturesque  life  of  the  scene. 

The  brother  and  sister  had  been  discussing  all  this  in  a  desul- 
tory sort  of  way,  when  the  latter,  after  a  moment's  pause, 
drew  her  head  in. 

24 


278  DARRYLL    GAP,   OB 

"  What  are  you  thinking  of?  "  said  Tom,  catching  the  pass- 
ing look  on  her  face. 

"  It  just  struck  .me  that  it  must  have  'been  over  some  such 
scene  as  the  one  yonder,  that  Solomon's  soul  broke  out  in  that 
mournful  'Vanity  of  vanities,  saith  the  preacher.  All  is 
vanity ! ' " 

"  Can  a  maid  forget  her  ornaments,  or  a  bride  her  attire?" 
answered  Tom,  with  a  kind  of  suspicious  gravity. 

A  little  out-tinkle  of  her  merriest  laugh,  a  half-surprised 
glance,  flashed  up  to  his  face. 

"  What  are  you  laughing  at?  " 

"  Why,  Tom,  the  idea  of  your  repeating  Scripture  !  I  didn't 
know  that  you  read  your  Bible  so  much." 

"  I  have,  enough  to  find  that  in  it." 

At  that  moment  Guy  burst  into  the  room,  accompanied  by 
his  two  sisters,  and  they  all  established  themselves  at  the  other 
window.  Then  ensued  a  very  Babel  of  voices.  The  trio  went 
into  an  animated  discussion  over  the  dress,  accomplishments, 
and  personal  attractions  of  one  and  another  in  the  crowd  be- 
neath them. 

Ella  was  in  raptures  over  one  lady's  jewels,  and  another's 
laces,  and  somebody  else's  robe,  and  seemed  to  have  a  marvel- 
lous intuition  of  the  value  of  each,  so  that  Rusha  whispered,  in 
an  undertone,  to  Tom,  — 

"  I  think  one  might  say  to  Ella  what  Jaques  does  to  Orlando, 
— '  Have  you  not  been  acquainted  with  goldsmiths'  wives  ? ' ' 

He  laughed. 

*'  Capital,  Rusha !  What  a  set  of  magpies  they  are,  though  !  " 
and  then  they  kept  still,  listening  to  the  chatter. 

But  the  share  that  Guy  bore  in  it  was  what  amazed  Rusha. 
He  seemed  to  be  perfectly  posted  up  in  regard  to  all  the  belles, 
and  discussed  the  merits  of  each  in  a  way  that,  considering  his 
youth,  grated  on  his  sister's  ears. 

Outspoken  as  usual,  she  turned  on  him  :  — 

"  Guy,  what  right  has  a  little  whipper-snapper  like  you  to  go 
on  in  that  way?  One  would  think,  to  hear  you  talk,  you  had 
played  the  gallant  for  the  last  ten  years  1 " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  279 

"  He  has  played  the  gallant  up  here  pretty  thoroughly  for  the 
last  two  weeks,"  laughed  Ella,  before  her  brother  could  defend 
himself. 

"I  believe,"  he  spoke  up  now,  "that  girls,  after  they  get 
pretty  well  along  into  their  twenties,  think  that  a  fellow  ought  to 
wear  a  bib  until  he's  eighteen  !  " 

"  Good  for  you,  Guy  !  "  laughed  Tom.  "  That's  to  pay  you, 
Eusha,  for  calling  him  a  '  little  whipper-snapper ' !  " 

liusha  took  it  good-naturedly. 

"  It  was  a  fair  hit,  Guy,  but  I  shan't  subside  under  it.  What 
does  Ella  mean  by  your  playing  the  gallant  ?  " 

Ella  undertook  to  explain. 

"  Why,  you  see,  Rusha,  there's  a  fearful  dearth  of  beaus 
here  this  summer.  Of  course,  there  isn't  a  Southerner  to  be 
seen,  and  so  many  young  men  are  off  to  the  war,  that  it's  really 
hard  to  raise  enough  for  an  agreeable  dance  ;  so  men  are  at  a 
great  premium  at  all  the  balls." 

"  You've  no  idea,  Rusha,"  put  in  Agnes,  "  how  well  Guy 
can  play  the  agreeable.  He  can  hold  a  lady's  fan  and  bouquet, 
and  take  her  out  to  supper,  after  the  most  approved  fashion. 
Tom  and  he  are  in  immense  demand  here." 

I  suppose  most  sisters  would  have  laughed  over  all  this. 
Probably  Rusha  would  in  most  moods ;  now,  with  a  little  im- 
patient stamp  of  her  foot,  she  exclaimed,  — 

"  I  am  disgusted  with  —  I  am  ashamed  of  my  sex  !  " 

"  Why,  because  some  of  them  happen  to  fancy  your  broth- 
ers?" asked  Guy,  rather  indignantly. 

"  If  you  choose  to  put  it  in  that  light.  But  when  one  thinks 
of  the  little  appreciation  of  the  true  worth  and  dignity  of  wo- 
manhood which  exists  among  Avomen,  as  we  see  them  here,  for 
instance  —  when  one  feels  what  woman's  aims  and  life  should 
be,  and  looks  at  what  they  are,  why,  it's  just  sickening  !  " 

"  Now,  Rusha,"  struck  in  Ella,  "  what  do  you  want  to  be 
down  on  your  sex  like  that  for?  If  it  was  on  the  men  I 
wouldn't  say  a  word,  for  you  can't  make  them  out  worse-  than 
they  are  ;  but  with  us,  poor  women,  it's  altogether  different." 


280  DAEEYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  Is  that  true,  Ella?  Are  men  likely  to  be  any  better  until 
woman  makes  them  so?  Who  is  it,  after  all,  that  makes  so- 
ciety? —  who  is  it  that  creates  all  its  decrees,  controls  all  its  ver- 
dicts?—  who  is  it  that  has  her  hand  on  all  the  great,  hidden 
springs  which  govern  human  life  and  actions,  and  looking  at 
women  here,  for  a  specimen,  who  is  so  faithless  to  her  trust?" 

"  I  don't  understand  what  you  mean.  You  know  I  never 
could  go  into  your  heroics,  Rusha." 

"  I  mean,"  nothing  daunted  by  the  satire  in  Ella's  term,  "  this 
living  merely  on  the  surface  of  things,  for  dress,  display,  admi- 
ration, a  buzzing  butterfly  existence,  whose  chief  aim  is  to 
catch  a  beau,  or  a  husband  !  " 

"  Now,  that  is  too  bad,  I  do  say,  Rusha !  "  put  in  Agnes,  with 
a  little  girlish  show  of  spirit. 

"  Go  on,  I  say,"  said  Tom.     "  I  like  it." 

She  was  in  the  mood  for  obeying  him. 

"  We  all  know  it's  so,  and  why  not  call  things  by  their  right 
names  ?  How  many  women  honestly  believe  that  they  are  in 
the  world  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  get  a  husband,  by  fair 
means  or  foul  ?  " 

"  Well,  now,  Rusha,  isn't  it  natural  enough  to  expect  to  get 
married  ?  You  don't  intend  to  start  out  on  a  raid  against  mat- 
rimony, with  all  the  rest  ?  " 

"  You  know  I  mean  nothing  of  the  sort,  Ella.  But  I  do 
mean  that  no  woman  is  really  worthy  to  enter  into  the  relation 
who  is  not  capable  of  living,  and  with  true  use  and  dignity, 
her  own  life  outside  of  it." 

"  Then  it  just  comes  straight  down  to  this,  and  it's  all  you 
can  make  of  it.  A  woman  isn't  worthy  to  be  a  wife  until  she's 
first  learned  how  to  be  an  old  maid  !  " 

Such  a  clapping  of  hands  as  ensued  from  Guy  and  Agnes, 
when  Ella  made  this  point !  It  was  impossible  for  Rusha  not  to 
join  in  the  laugh,  though  it  did  turn  against  her ;  but  when  the 
noise  had  subsided,  she  took  up  the  subject  again,  seriously 
enough. 

"  If  you  like  that  epithet  better  than  any  other,  keep  it.     No 


A 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


281 


opprobrium  of  that  sort  ever  killed  a  truth  yet,  and  I  know 
mine  is  one  of  those  stubborn  things.  No  woman,  I  say,  is  fit, 
in  this  age  at  least,  to  be  either  wife  or  mother,  who  has  not  so 
high  an  ideal  of  the  marriage  relation  that  she  will  not  enter  it 
solely  and  entirely  for  the  name  and  the  position  which  it  will 
bestow  on  her,  but  will  have  the  moral  courage  to  go  on  her 
own  way  alone,  self-poised,  living  a  life  to  some  true  and  noble 
end,  for  some  sweet  and  generous  use,  and,  for  all  she  does  not 
find  in  this  world,  '  waiting  God's  good  time  ' !  " 

"  Now,  just  answer  that,  Ella  Darryll,  if  you  can ! "  said 
Tom,  with  some  exultance  in  his  voice. 

"  Well,  granting,  for  argument's  sake,  that  it's  all  true,  it 
is  a  settled  fact  that  women  never  will  attain  to  this  exalted, 
angelic  state  in  this  world.  They'll  just  be  human  to  the  end  of 
the  chapter,  and  love  to  dress,  to  dance  and  to  flirt,  to  marry 
and  to  be  given  in  marriage ;  so  what's  the  use  of  fretting  one's 
self  over  it  ?  Will  you  ever  learn,  Rusha,  not  to  carry  the  world 
on  your  shoulders  ?  " 

It  always  came  out  in  every  talk,  the  hard,  selfish,  material 
philosophy  of  the  one  sister,  in  strong,  sharp  contradistinction  to 
the  loftier  sentiment,  the  deeper  insight  and  broader  aspiration 
of  the  other. 

"  Well,  Tom,  what  do  you  think  of  it  all?"  for  Ella  had 
vanished  with  this  last  remark,  to  put  in  practice,  in  some  of  its 
various  forms,  the  faith  which  she  professed,  while  Tom  stood 
looking  out  thoughtfully,  but  evidently  not  seeing  the  landscape. 

"  I  was  thinking,  Rusha,  that  if  women  have  got  to  become 
all  you  say  they  must,  before  men  are  improved,  there's  a 
mighty  small  chance  for  us,  poor  fellows  !  " 

"  Well,  Tom,  the  world  is  advancing  all  the  time  into  light 
and  truth  ;  you  believe  that  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  And  no  doubt  there  are  a  great  many  just  such  noble  women 
in  the  world." 

"  I  wonder  where  they  keep  themselves !  "  with  a  little 
quizzical  glance. 

24* 


282  DARRYLL   GAP,   OR 

She  answered  it. 

"  You  may  have  been  particularly  unfortunate  in  your 
knowledge  of  the  sex,  you  see  !  " 

"  I  do  know  one  who  I  think  has  in  her  the  elements  of  just 
such  a  woman,  only  she  failed  me  once  !  " 

Her  face  showed  in  its  quick  flash  of  pain  that  she  took  in  his 
whole  meaning. 

"  O,  Tom,  I  thought  you  had  given  up  all  that  long  ago," 
she  stammered. 

His  face  wore  the  look  which  she  remembered  that  night, 
when  he  stood  by  the  mantel,  under  the  avalanche  of  opposition 
which  his  family  poured  down  on  him. 

"  llusha,  did  you  think  it  took  no  deeper  hold  of  me  than  that 
—  after  what  I  said,  too  ?  " 

"  And —  and,  Torn,"  her  soft  fingers  at  work  nervously  with 
the  ruffles  of  her  morning  dress,  "  if  pa  should  give  his  consent 
now,  you  would  still  go?" 

The  answer  came  promptly,  and  with  a  strong  ring  in  it, — 

"  Yes,  to-morrow  !  " 

For  a  while  she  did  not  speak  ;  at  last  she  looked  up,  those 
sweet  eyes  of  hers  shining  through  their  tears. 

"  Tom,"  she  said,  "  it  has  been  in  my  thought  ever  since,  and 
-T—  I  cannot  tell  how  —  but  I  have  grown  to  feel  of  late,  that  if 
I  could  once  come  to  know  it  was  my  duty,  I  could  bear  to  see 
you  go ! " 

She  was  almost  repaid,  at  that  moment,  for  all  the  pangs  it  had 
cost  her  to  reach  these  words,  by  the  rare  smile  which  he  bent 
down  on  her  face. 

"  That  is  like  my  own  brave  sister  !  " 

"  But,  Tom,  you  know  it's  useless  to  think  of  this,"  clinging 
to  that  last  plank.  "  Pa  will  never  be  brought  to  give  his 
consent." 

"  Not  as  a  private,  certainly.  But  what  if  I  went  as  an  officer  ? 
That  would  put  the  whole  matter  in  a  different  light  with  all  of 
them." 

Rusha  saw  it  at  a  glance.     Even  Ella  had  a  girl's  romantic 


I 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  283 

admiration  for  military  "  shoulder  straps."  She  began  to  see 
that  this  test  might  be  awaiting  her  also.  She  did  not  answer 
him,  because  the  thought,  coming  nearer,  overwhelmed  her. 

He  went  on  in  that  rapid,  earnest  way,  which  showed  how 
deeply  his  heart  was  in  it  all. 

"  There  may  come  a  time  when  I  shall  want  you  to  stand  by 
me,  to  help  me  through,  Rusha." 

She  shut  her  eyes,  a  sudden  sickness  creeping  over  her,  and 
her  answer  was  low,  as  though  some  heavy  feeling  lay  upon  and 
crushed  it  down. 

"  I  hope,  Tom,  the  Lord  will  give  me  strength  to  do  what  He 
shall  show  me  is  my  duty." 

A  very  different  answer  from  that  one  she  had  made  him  six 
months  before,  showing  how  the  hidden  leaven  had  been  work- 
ing in  her  soul  also,  "  till  the  whole  was  leavened." 

I  do  not  think  there  was  much  comfort  then  in  Tom's  fervent 
—  "I  felt  you  would  come  out  all  right  at  last." 

Afterwards  he  went  on  to  talk,  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  quick, 
impatient  youth,  of  his  great  longing  to  enter  the  army,  of  his 
eagerness  to  do  some  service  for  his  country,  of  his  solemn  con- 
viction that  his  duty  lay  there,  and,  through  it  all,  it  was  plain 
enough  that  he  relied  on  her  sympathy  and  assistance  in  over- 
coming his  father's  prejudices  and.  constraining  his  consent  into 
what  Tom  called  "  the  one  hope  and  ambition  of  his  life." 

Rusha  listened  silently,  all  ardor  of  patriotic  feeling,  all  de- 
light of  sacrifice,  gone  now,  only  that  cold  sinking  about  her 
heart ! 

At  last  Tom  waited  for  her  to  speak ;  it  was  after  he  had 
concluded  with  —  "  You  know,  Rusha,  money  will  do  anything 
in  this  world.  Father  could  easily  get  me  a  lieutenancy,  or 
captaincy,  or  some  office  of  that  sort." 

"  But,  Tom,  there  is  no  need  of  being  in  a  hurry,  you  know ! " 
catching  at  any  straw. 

"  But  there  is,  though  !  If  a  fellow  once  makes  up  his  mind, 
heart  and  soul,  what's  the  use  of  hanging  round,  I  say  ?  He'd 
better  be  at  work." 


284  DAERTLL    GAP,    OB 

"  There  will  be  no  use  in  attempting  anything,  though,  until 
mother  gets  strong  again.  The  very  suggestion  might  throw 
her  back  into  the  fever,  and  there  would  be  an  end  of  the  whole 
thing." 

Tom  saw  the  force  of  Rusha's  argument. 

"  Well,  I  shall  wait  in  hope  —  in  faith,  too  —  that  the  good 
time's  coming." 

At  that  very  moment  they  both  caught  sight  of  a  trio  of  army 
officers  emerging  from  the  park.  Tom  gave  them  one  keen 
glance,  and  then  cried  out  —  "  Those  are  fellows  from  Yale  !  " 
and  he  was  off  in  a  trice.  And  Rusha  stood  at  the  window, 
and  the  fair  summer  landscape  lifted  up  its  smile  of  still  peace 
into  her  face.  Hers  would  have  answered  it  sometimes,  but  she 
did  not  see  it  now  —  she  only  saw  the  dread  and  anguish  that 
were  coming  1 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  285 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

THE  advent  of  Tom  Darryll's  college  friends  proved  particu- 
larly opportune  for  that  young  man  at  this  juncture.  They  were 
a  trio  of  brave  young  officers,  who  had  entered  the  army,  as  so 
many  of  our  youth  did,  solely  for  their  country's  sake  ;  and  this 
heroism  seemed  to  have  transformed  at  once  their  idle,  self- 
indulgent  youth  into  strong,  stalwart  manhood.  They  had  seen 
some  hard  service,  too,  and  their  patriotism  had  gained  that  deep, 
steady  glow  which  comes  from  the  test  of  camp  and  battle-field. 

Ella's  and  Agnes'  fancies,  after  the  manner  of  young  girls, 
took  fire  at  once  over  Tom's  friends.  And  far  less  attractive 
society  than  that  of  their  young  classmate's  sisters  would  have 
possessed  an  agreeable  zest  to  the  young  officers,  who  had 
been  so  long  beyond  sound  of  a  woman's  voice  that  they  had 
found  some  new  sweetness  in  it.  So  all  parties  were  disposed 
to  make  the  most  of  the  brief  furlough. 

Even  Rusha  found  at  last  "  some  men  at  the  Springs  worth 
talking  to,"  and  was  never  tired  of  asking  questions  about  army 
life,  with  an  eagerness  whose  secret  motive  nobody  could  probe. 
There  is,  after  all,  a  great  power  in  words ;  and  it  seemed  to 
diminish  the  chances  and  dangers  of  war  when  the  young  cap- 
tains talked  of  a  bullet  wound  as  a  "  little  scratch,"  and  marching 
up  under  a  heavy  fire  "  a  walking  up  bravely  to  the  music,  sir." 

Then,  sun-browned  and  worn  with  the  life  of  camp,  and 
march,  and  the  hot  fight  of  the  field,  as  were  these  saldiers,  they 
had  escaped  unharmed,  every  one  of  them  sound  in  limb  and 
stronger  in  soul. 

"  Why  might-not  Tom  be  all  this?  "  Ruslm  reasoned,  striving 
to  brace  up  her  heart  to  the  surrender  that  must  come. 

John  Darryll  flattered  himself  that  he  was  above  being  influ- 


286  DAERTLL   GAP,   OB 

enced  by  appearances  in  any  serious  matter  ;  but  of  course  the 
man  was  greatly  mistaken,  as  most  people  are  in  their  estimation 
of  themselves.  It  was  one  thing_to  enter  the  army  a  mere  pri- 
vate, without  any  name,  or  position,  or  honors  of  any  sort,  and 
quite  another  to  be  an  officer,  with  the  prestige,  and  power,  and 
all  that, 

I  suppose  none  of  us  are  above  being  influenced  more  or  less 
by  such  considerations.  Certainly  John  Darryll  would  have 
set  his  face  strongly  against  his  boy's  entering  the  army  in  any 
position  ;  but  in  case  it  should  come  to  that,  he  would  have  an 
immense  choice  of  place. 

At  all  events,  Tom  read  his  father  shrewdly  enough  to  manage 
that  he  and  the  young  soldiers  should  be  thrown  frequently  to- 
gether, and  when  they  were,  the  army  was  certain  to  be  the 
topic  of  conversation  —  a  subject  in  which  Mr.  Darryll,  like  all 
his  countrymen,  took  an  absorbing  interest  of  one  sort  or  another  ; 
and  nobody  could  hear  the  young  soldiers  talk  without  being 
more  or  less  infected  with  their  enthusiasm.  Guy  manifested 
this  fact  in  his  remark  after  the  officers  had  taken  leave  one  day, 
each  having  appropriated  one  of  his  sisters  for  a  walk  in  the  park. 

"  I  say,  those  are  all-fired  plucky  fellows.  It  makes  one 
feel  it's  a  fine  thing  to  go  to  the  war,  and  wear  shoulder  straps, 
and  all  that  —  Jupiter  !  " 

"  Come,  now,  don't  you  go  to  getting  the  fever  too,"  added  his 
father.  "  Tom's  only  got  well  over  his." 

"  O,  it's  one  thing  to  go  to  the  war  and  turn  in  with  the 
rank  and  file,  and  pretty  much  of  another  to  be  an  officer,  and 
ride  a  fine  horse,  and  have  a  lot  of  men  under  your  command, 
and  all  that.  I  say,  'twould  be  sort  of  jolly  !  " 

"  Foolish  boy  !  "  said  his  father.  "  You  might  find  some  day 
that  all  the  glitter  and  tinsel  wouldn't  save  your  head  from  being 
shot  off.  What  then  ?  " 

But  after  all,  the  tone  was  very  different  from  the  one  which 
had  answered  Tom  when  he  talked  about  going  to  the  war  as  a 
private. 

"  Well,  there  wouldn't  be  much  fun  in  that ;  but  then  a  fellow 


-     to 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  287 

may  not  get  a   scratch.     Plenty  of  'em  come    back   safe  and 
sound,"  was  the  reply  of  John  Darryll's  youngest  son. 

No  more  was  said  at  that  time,  only  Tom  muttered  to  him- 
self, as  he  went  out  —  "  There  went  in  the  entering  wedge  !  " 
.  After  this  there  was  some  secret  betwixt  Rusha  and  Tom, 
which  made  them,  perhaps  unconsciously,  cling  to  each  other 
with  some  new  habit  of  tenderness.  Rusha  could  not  but  dis- 
cern how  the  young  soul  beside  her  panted  with  suppressed 
eagerness  to  be  at  its  work ;  and  there  were  times  when  her 
brother's  enthusiasm  would  fairly  carry  her  out  of  herself,  and 
she  would  lose  sight  of  the  peril  and  the  dreadful  possibilities 
that  lay  in  wait,  in  the  joy  and  glory  of  the  struggle. 

But  this  was  only  at  times.  She  was  a  woman,  and,  above 
all  ambitions  and  exaltations,  the  heart  which  was  the  deepest 
part  of  her,  would  make  itself  felt.  Sometimes  the  thought  of 
what  Tom  was  to  do,  of  where  he  might  be  in  a  little  while, 
would  come  over  her  with  such  a  pang  as  fairly  to  take  away 
her  breath.  Indeed,  whether  she  was  conscious  of  it  or  not, 
she  carried  with  her  always  now  the  dread  of  some  trial  to  come. 
Its  shadow  haunted  her  gayest  moments  —  and  you  know  she 
could  be  gay,  with  a  bright,  hearty,  child-like  abandon,  which 
infected  everybody  who  was  brought  within  her  sphere  more 
than  all  Ella's  high  spirits. 

•  Nobody  suspected  the  secret  pain  she  carried  about  with  her 
—  not  even  Tom,  except  partially,  for  it  only  manifested  itself 
in  a  restlessness  if  he  was  long  out  of  her  sight,  and  a  liking  to 
be  always  at  his  side.  And  through  all  this  appointed  way  the 
character  of  Rusha  Darryll  was  gaining  self-poise,  and  bracing 
itself  for  the  hour  of  surrender  that  she  saw  waited  for  her  in 
the  future  —  the  hour  which  she  had  not  yet  courage  to  open 
her  eyes  and  look  in  the  face. 

In  due  time  the  season  was  over,  and  the  family  returned 
home  —  Mrs.  Darryll  with  recovered  health.  Tom's  purpose 
had  not  transpired,  but  Rusha  gave  a  prophetic  start  when 
she  heard  her  father  say  one  evening,  — 

"  Well,  Tom,  I  s'pose  you'll  be  off  next  week  —  college  comes 
together  then,  I  see." 


288  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

There  was  a  moment's  silence ;  then  Tom  spoke  up  with  a 
ring  in  his  voice  which  cut  sharp  as  steel  through  Rusha's  soul,  — 

"  You  and  I  must  have  a  private  talk  before  that." 

"  What  sort  of  a  talk?  "  said  the  father,  looking  a  little  sur- 
prised. 

"  One  of  the  kind  that  must  speak  for  itself." 

"  I  believe  you're  trying  to  get  up  a  sensation,  Tom," 
laughed  Agnes.  •"  What  possible  secret  can  you  and  pa  have 
together?" 

Tom  did  not  answer  the  jest.  He  looked  grave  enough  as 
he  said,  — 

"  There's  no  time  better  than  the  present,  father.  I'd  like  to 
talk  it  all  over  with  you  this  evening." 

So  it  was  coming !  After  tea  Rusha  went  up  stairs,  and  sat 
down  in  a  dark  corner  of  the  little  alcove,  trying  to  realize  the 
truth,  and  what  life  would  be  to  her  when  Tom  was  gone  to 
the  war. 

In  a  few  minutes  he  ran  up  and  found  her  here,  his  whole 
face  on  fire  with  eagerness  :  — 

"  We're  to  have  the  talk  right  off,"  he  said,  "  in  father's 
room.  O,  Rusha,  I  must,  I  will  carry  it  this  time  !  " 

Her  heart  leaped  up  then,  and  caught  at  a  hope  that  her 
father  would  prove  inflexible  ;  but  Tom  was  too  excited  to  notice 
her  looks  now. 

"  There  he  comes  !  "  he  exclaimed,  catching  the  sound  of  a 
mounting  footstep.  "  I  must  be  off  now  ;  "  but,  with  his  hand 
on  the  door-knob,  he  turned,  and  came  back  to  her —  "  Rusha, 
you  believe  that  there  is  a  God  who  hears  prayer,  and  answers 
it? "he  said. 

"  Of  course  I  do,  Tom." 

"  Well,  then,  I  want  you  to  ask  Him  to  turn  father's  heart  to 
this  matter,  while  I  go  in  there  !  "  and  he  went  away. 

Could  she  do  this  thing  that  he  had  asked  her  ? 

Huddled  up  there  in  a  heap  on  a  corner  of  the  lounge,  while 
the  soft  darkness  grew  about  her,  Rusha  Darryll  put  to  herself 
this  question,  battled  with  this  great  hour  of  surrender  that  had 


^ 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  289 

come  to  her  too,  at  last  —  that,  in  one  shape  or  another,  comes 
some  time  to  all  of  us  ! 

Could  she  pray  the  prayer  Tom  had  asked,  when  that  meant 
that  he  should  go  out  of  her  sight,  it  might  be  forever  —  go  out 
to  peril,  to  certain  suffering,  perhaps  to  death?  It  seemed  to 
her  in  that  moment  that  all  the  wives,  and  sisters,  and  mothers 
who  had  ever  given  up  the  beloved  to  the  war  could  not  have 
felt  and  suffered  as  she  did. 

She  tried  to  think  of  God,  to  brace  up  her  soul  with  thoughts 
of  right  and  duty ;  but  the  light  and  the  props  all  flmed  her 
now,  and  she  sat  there,  waiting,  a  cold  heap,  on  a  corner  of  the 
lounge,  just  as  Tom  had  left  her,  when  he  came  back. 

She  knew  her  first  glance  would  settle  the  question  of  his 
success  or  failure ;  but  it  had  grown  so  dark  by  this  time  that 
she  could  not  see  his  face.  He  came  right  up  to  her,  manner 
and  voice  full  of  excitement  that  was  close  on  triumph. 

"  Eusha,  you  must  go  to  father  this  very  minute  !  " 

"I,  Tom?" 

"  Yes  ;  strike  while  the  iron's  hot,  and  you'll  bring  him  over. 
Nobody  else  can  do  it.  He  was  hard  as  flint  at  first,  but  I 
stood  it  out  boldly,  and  I  can  see  he's  come  down  a  good  many 
pegs." 

Her  voice  found  its  life  again. 

"  You  don't  mean,  Tom,  that  I  must  go  in  and  intercede  with 
pa  to  let  you  go  to  the  war  ?  " 

"  That's  just  it.  If  you'll  help  me  now,  Eusha,  we'll  bring 
the  matter  through  betwixt  us.  I'm  sure  of  it ! ' 

"  O,  Tom,  I  can't !  "  she  shrieked  out.  "  I  had  rather  give 
up  my  life  than  do  this  thing  that  you  ask  me  ! " 

Tom  sat  down. 

"  I  shall  lose  all,  Eusha,  if  you  fail  me  now,"  he  said,  with 
a  kind  of  solemn  sternness.  "  My  fate  is  in  your  hands.  Ask 
your  own  soul  whether  you  have  a  right  to  betray  it." 

Whether  Tom  was  right  or  wrong  in  putting  her  to  this  hard 
stress  I  do  not  know  —  whether  she  was  right  or  wrong  in  feel- 
as  she  did,  that  if  she  failed  him  now,  her  deepest  hold  oa 
25 


290  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

him  would  be  gone  forever,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  it  certainly  did 
strike  home  to  her  with  a  singular  force  of  conviction  that  it 
was  her  duty  to  do  what  Tom  asked ;  and  there  was  some  fibre 
knit  up  in  the  soul  of  Rusha  Darryll  which  always  made  her 
look  a  duty  straight  in  the  face. 

For  a  little  while  she  neither  stirred  nor  spoke.  At  last  she 
rose  up. 

"  Are  you  going?"  asked  Tom,  catching  eagerly  at  the  folds 
of  her  dress. 

"  Yes,"  in  a  little  hard,  dry  whisper. 

He  put  his  arm  around  her,  and  walked  with  her  to  the  door. 
If  he  could  have  seen  her  face  then,  I  think  he  would  have  called 
her  back  ;  but  he  never  knew  the  look  it  carried  out  of  that  door  ! 

John  Darryll  was  pacing  up  and  down  the  room,  with  his 
hands  behind  him,  a  pretty  sure  indication  that  his  mood  was 
ruffled. 

"  What  the  deuce  has  got  into  that  boy's  head  about  going  to 
the  war  ?  He  seems  resolved  to  run  his  head  into  the  cannon's 
mouth  !  " 

"  It  doesn't  seem  to  be  in  his  head  merely,  but  in  his  very 
life  and  soul,"  the  quiet  tone  contrasting  with  her  father's  ex- 
cited one. 

"  You  don't  mean  that  you've  come  here  to  tell  me  I'd  better 
give  in,  and  let  him  go  ?  "  a  little  more  wrathful  than  ever. 

"  I've  come  in  to  tell  you,  pa,  that  it  seems  to  me  the  only 
thing  you  can  do.  You  know  I  opposed  it  at  the  first,  but  I  see 
Tom's  whole  soul  is  set  on  this  thing  —  that  it  isn't  a  mere  boy- 
ish fancy  for  the  parade  and  show  of  war,  but  something  that 
has  taken  possession  of  his  whole  nature,  and  there's  no  use 
going  against  it." 

"  But  do  you  know  what  going  to  the  war  means,  you  foolish 
child?  It  means  getting  one's  head  blown  off,  or  one's  limbs 
shot  away,  and  a  good  many  other  things  as  bad,  or  worse ! " 
hurling  the  dreadful  words  at  her  in  that  sort  of  blind  anger  that 
vents  itself  on  the  first  object ;  and  yet  there  lay  something,  at 
that  moment,  at  the  bottom  of  John  Darryll's  temper  that 
largely  excused  it. 


j 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  291 

If  the  man  had  known  how  deeply  each  word  hurt  his  child, 
he  certainly  would  not  have  spoken  so.  It  took  a  moment  or 
two  to  steady  her  voice. 

"  I  know  all  that,  pa,  and  I  am  not  certain  but  I  would  find 
it  a  great  deal  easier  to  give  up  my  life  than  to  let  Tom  go  ;  but 
he  is  so  bent  on  it,  that,  if  he  is  forcibly  kept  away,  I  tremble 
lest  something  wrong  should  come  of  it.  If  Andrew  now  had 
taken  a  notion  for  the  army,  it  might  have  saved  him  from  all 
that  followed." 

"  Likely  enough ;  but  there  isn't  the  same  danger  in  Tom's 
case  :  "  still  his  tone  showed  that  the  last  argument  had  weight 
with  him. 

"  No,  thank  God !  still  it's  always  dangerous  to  go  against  a 
young  man's  settled  convictions  of  duty,  and  Tom  believes  in 
his  soul  that  his  work  lies  that  way.  I  wish  he  did  not ;  but  if, 
in  consequence  of  our  opposition,  he  should  lose  all  ambition, 
or  come  to  any  harm,  we  should  always  blame  ourselves." 

"  The  fellow  don't  know  what  he's  about ;  pretty  place  to  put 
me  in  !  "  muttered  John  Darryll,  pacing  the  room  harder  than 
ever. 

"  But  other  fathers  let  their  sons  go  to  the  war,"  pursued  the 
girl.  "  And  I  am  certain  that  Tom  will  enlist  the  day  he  is 
twenty-one  ;  and  your  influence  might  do  something  for  him 
now.  You  know  the  rank  a  man  holds  in  the  army  makes  a 
vast  difference  in  the  way  of  comfort." 

That  was  a  part  of  the  matter  which  John  Darryll  would  be 
certain  to  see  in  its  strongest  light. 

"  There's  your  mother !  Do  you  s'pose  she  can  ever  be 
brought  over  into  letting  Tom  go  to  the  war?" 

"  I  suppose  so  ;  because  people  generally  do  what  they  can't 
help,"  the  grieved,  hopeless  tone  striking  her  father  now.  In- 
deed, Rusha  had,  all  this  time,  been  talking  one  thing  while  her 
heart  was  pleading  another. 

A  great  deal  more  was  said  on  both  sides.  John  Darryll 
was  not  a  man  easily  moved  from  his  opinions,  but  the  thought 
of  Andrew,  and  a  lurking  fear  that  it  might  turn  out  with  Tom 


292  DARETLL    GAP,   OB 

as  Rusha  had  said,  if  he  brought  all  the  forces  of  his  opposition 
to  bear  against  him,  had  its  weight  now. 

That  last  talk,  too,  had  impressed  Mr.  Darryll  with  the  vital 
earnestness  of  his  son  in  the  matter  at  stake. 

At  last  Rusha  returned  to  Tom.     He  sprang  up. 

"Well,  Rusha?" 

"  You  will  go,  Tom  ! " 

"  Has  he  really  consented?" 

"  Not  in  so  many  words  ;  but  I  see  it  will  come  to  that !  " 

"  O,  Rusha,  I  amjtae  happiest  fellow  alive  !  "  catching  her  up 
and  twirling  her  round  — his  old  habit  in  any  exuberance  of  joy. 

Still  dark,  so  that  he  could  not  see  her  face  ! 

"  Let  me  sit  down,  Tom.  I  can't  bear  that  now,"  the  burden 
of  weariness  and  pain  in  her  voice  striking  him  even  in  that 
moment. 

"Poor  Rusha,  I  shall  not  forget  what  you  have  done  —  not 
forget  that  in  the  whole  world  there  is  no  sister  like  you  !  " 

Her  heart  was  too  sick,  then,  to  find  any  sweetness  in  the 
praise.  It  was  striving  to  steady  itself  against  those  old  words 
which  have  been  a  plank  let  down  into  the  deep  waters  where 
many  souls  have  begun  to  sink,  "  What  time  I  am  afraid  I  will 
trust  in  Thee  !  " 

But  she  could  not  bear  the  strain  of  his  triumphant  mood. 

"  I  will  tell  you  about  it  to-morrow,  Tom  ;  leave  me  a  little 
while  —  I  am  so  tired  —  there's  a  good  fellow  !  " 

He  kissed  her,  and  went  away.  Tom  Darryll  thought  he 
knew  all  that  it  had  cost  his  sister  to  do  what  she  had  done  that 
night ;  but  he  did  not  know  then,  nor  ever  afterwards. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  293 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

EVENTS  proved  the  truth  of  Rusha's  prediction.  It  is  useless 
to  enter  into  the  varied  family  discussions  which  followed,  or 
the  varied  forms  of  disapprobation  which  Tom's  going  to  the 
war  encountered.  Mr.  Darryll  did  not  withdraw  his  verbal  op- 
position to  his  son's  "  war  fever,"  as  he  continued  to  designate 
Tom's  purpose  to  enter  the  army ;  and  the  mother  made  all 
sorts  of  protestations  and  dismal  prophecies,  ended  usually  by  a 
fit  of  weeping ;  but  for  all  this  Tom  did  not  return  to  college 
when  his  term  opened. 

Then,  too,  there  was  no  recurrence  of  that  hail-storm  of 
reproach  which  had  poured  itself  on  Tom's  head  when  he 
announced  his  intention  of  entering  the  army  as  a  private.  Let- 
ting alone  all  prospects  of  comparative  ease  and  comfort,  which 
could  not  fail  to  have  their  weight  with  affection,  there  was 
nothing  to  revolt  one's  pride  in  any  sort  of  official  rank  ;  on  the 
contrary,  an  ample  area  for  the  indulgence  of  that  feeling  might 
be  afforded  by  Tom's  military  position. 

Ella  had,  as  I  said,  a  girl's  admiration  for  military  "  shoul- 
der straps,"  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  young  men  who  en- 
joyed her  favor  wore  these,  "  and,"  as  she  privately  expressed  it 
to  her  mother,  "  though  Tom  was  a  great  fool  to  get  that  war 
crotchet  into  his  head,  still,  if  he  was  bent  on  carrying  it  out, 
there  was  something  in  being  an  officer  ;  and  the  fellow  would 
look  handsome  in  officer's  dress  —  no  question  of  that." 

As  for  Rusha,  after  the  thing  was  once  settled  —  for  from 
that  night  of  her  talk  with  her  father,  it  had  been  with  her  a 
foregone  conclusion  that  Tom  would  go  to  the  war  —  there  had 
come  a  reaction  —  as  there  usually  does  after  some  awful  strain 
of  feeling,  else  we  could  not  exist  at  all.  A  quieter  mood 
25* 


294  DAERTLL    GAP,   OB 

superseded  ;  the  awful  possibilities  of  war  seemed  to  fall  into  the 
background  of  her  thoughts,  ceasing  to  haunt  her  with  their 
terrors.  She  caught,  to  a  degree,  the  contagion  of  Tom's  en- 
thusiasm, for  he  made  her,  as  before,  the  recipient  of  all  his 
ambitious  and  purposes,  as  well  as  of  his  prospects  of  success  in 
the  one  thing  which  had  taken  such  possession  of  his  whole 
being,  while  every  day  his  hopes  seemed  to  find  some  fresh 
evidence  of  their  near  fulfilment. 

Long  before  he  would  admit  it,  even  to  himself,  John  Darryll 
had  made  up  his  mind  that  Tom  would  enter  the  army. 

The  man  had  more  faith  in  the  power  of  money  than  in  any- 
thing else  in  the  world,  and  he  resolved  that  its  influence  should 
be  brought  to  bear,  in  securing  some  official  appointment  for 
his  son. 

In  the  first  place,  Tom  had  in  himself  all  the  pre-requisites 
for  a  good  officer  ;  the  bright,  prompt,  native  energy ;  the  swift 
perception,  with  a  great  deal  of  latent  executive  force  ;  and 
there  was  little  doubt  that,  with  his  whole  soul  in  the  work,  had 
he  entered  the  army  as  a  private,  and  opportunity  been  afforded 
him,  he  would  have  risen  by  force  of  his  own  merit. 

But  parental  pride  and  affection  impelled  John  Darryll  to 
forestall  all  that.  A  man  of  his  wealth  could  have  influence  in 
a  thousand  indirect  ways  that  would  reach  high  quarters,  and 
this  without  doing,  as  the  world  goes,  anything  reprehensible. 

To  go  into  all  the  moral  relations  of  the  course  which  the 
broker  took  to  secure  his  son's  advancement  would  require  a 
good  deal  of  subtle  analysis,  to  which  John  Darryll  certainly 
was  not  given  —  suffice  it,  whether  right  or  wrong,  the  end  was 
attained,  while  nobody,  in  the  domestic  circle  or  out  of  it, 
dreamed  of  questioning  the  legitimacy  of  the  means  employed ; 
and  there  came  a  day  when  Tom  Darryll  went  home  to  his  fam- 
ily wearing  the  "  army  blue  "  mounted  with  captain's  bars. 

Ella's  prophecy  was  verified.  The  young  officer  wore  his 
uniform  with  such  manly  freedom  and  grace,  with  such  a  joyful 
consciousness  too,  of  new  purpose  and  responsibility,  as  though 
he  had  at  last  found  his  own  place,  and  knew  it,  that  none  of 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  295 

his  family  could  look  at  him  without  a  certain  feeling  of  pride 
and  pleasure,  which,  for  the  time,  obscured  all  fear  for  his  future. 

Ella  and  Agnes  went  into  raptures  over  their  brother's  dress, 
and  Guy  expressed,  in  his  coarse  fashion,  his  sense  of  his 
father's  general  managing  ability. 

"  I  tell  you  the  governor  knows  how  to  pull  the  wires  !  He's 
fixed  that  captaincy  up  snug  for  you,  Tom ; "  and  the  youth 
looked  with  a  decided  hankering  on  his  brother's  "  straps,"  and 
wondered  if  they  would  not  be  equally  becoming  to  him  also. 

Mrs.  Darryll  and  Rusha  took  the  whole  in  a  less  voluble 
way  ;  but  mother  and  sister  pride  had  its  rights  that  would  not 
be  denied,  and  that,  for  the  hour,  seemed  to  push  far  into  the 
background  the  perils  that  lay  in  wait.  They  looked  at  the 
slim,  lithe  -figure  —  at  the  strong,  alert  step  —  at  the  face  full  of 
the  joy  and  fire  of  youth,  —  and  thank  God  !  it  is  not  in  human 
nature  to  be  always  sad,  —  and  it  did  not  seem  possible  that  all 
this  strong,  quick  young  life  could  be  brought  low  in  a  little 
while  by  that  devouring  death  which  waited  in  ten  thousand 
forms  down  yonder  on  the  battle-fields. 

And  the  hours  which  followed  were,  in  a  large  sense,  peaceful 
ones  to  all  the  family  —  no  terrible,  haunting  fears  stalking 
through  the  days  and  nights,  and  yet  a  kind  of  vague  forecast 
of  separation  which  might  fall  any  time,  smoothing  that  fam- 
ily friction  which  inhered  in  the  Darryll  household.  As  for 
Rusha,  she  could  hardly  let  Tom  go  out  of  her  sight  in  these 
days.  There  were  times  when  the  consciousness  that  he  panted 
so  ardently  to  be  away,  came  over  her  with  a  terrible  pang ;  still, 
with  a  nature  so  susceptible  as  was  hers  to  all  generous  enthusi- 
asms, she  could  not  but  imbibe  something  of  the  spirit  she  had 
first  awakened,  and  looked  at  army  life  through  the  coukur  de 
rose  atmosphere  with  which  Tom  always  invested  it. 

Among  several  brigades  which  were  ordered  to  reenforce  at 
once  the  depleted  Army  of  the  Potomac,  Tom's  regiment  was 
included.  So  the  day  came  at  last  to  the  Darrylls,  which,  keep- 
ing its  appointed  time  in  the  years  of  God,  came  to  so  many 
households  throughout  the  land  — a  day  which  held  for  loving 


296  DAREYLL    GAP,    OE 

hearts  that  farewell  and  parting  whose  bitterness  had  some 
taste  of  the  bitterness  of  death. 

Rusha  had  tried  sometimes  to  look  forward  to  this  day,  and 
to  brace  her  soul  to  go  through  it  bravely,  as  a  soldier's  sister 
should ;  but  when  the  time  came,  her  nice  little  programme  all 
failed  her.  She  was  just  the  fond,  tearful  sister,  clinging  to 
Tom  with  a  love  and  fear  which,  it  seemed,  could  never  relin- 
quish him,  and  unable  to  support  her  mother  through  the  try- 
ing crisis. 

It  is  a  great  mercy  that  last  moments  are  always  hurried  ones 
—  that  the  great  griefs  of  life  darken  down  suddenly  and  take 
us  unawares,  and  we  go  through  them  often  in  a  sort  of  maze, 
like  one  in  a  dream. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  last  things  which  were  to  be  done,  they 
had  time  only  for  a  hurried  parting,  and  Rusha  left  unsaid  many 
things  she  had  kept  for  the  last  moments.  One  thing,  however, 
she  did  find  time  for.  A  few  days  previous,  all  his  sisters  had, 
at  Tom's  request,  sat  for  their  photographs,  and  Rusha  slipped 
hers  in  betwixt  the  leaves  of  her  Bible,  and  watched  her  chance 
for  a  few  private  words,  which  happened  at  last  when  her 
mother  had  left  the  room  a  moment  to  supervise  the  close  be- 
stowal of  some  small  jars  of  fruit  among  Tom's  clothes,  and  each 
of  the  girls  was  off  on  some  little  pet  scheme  which  involved 
the  young  captain's  pleasure  or  comfort. 

Rusha  went  to  him  now,  putting  her  cheek  down  to  his,  a  wet 
cheek,  a  voice  all  broken  up  with  grief. 

"  Tom,  there  is  one  thing  I  want  you  to  promise  me  !  " 

"  Anything  in  the  world,  Rusha." 

"  Here  is  my  Bible,  and  the  little  picture  always  to  be  kept 
inside  where  I  have  laid  it,  so  you  cannot  come  at  the  one  with- 
out the  other.  And  I  want  you  to  carry  this  book  always  around 
with  you,  and  promise  me  that  no  day  shall  ever  come  and  go  — 
no  matter  what  the  hurry,  and  confusion,  and  care  may  be  —  no 
matter  whether  you  are  in  the  camp,  or  on  the  march,  or  in  the 
midst  of  the  dreadful  battle-field,  that  you  will  not  look  inside 
this  Bible,  and  read  at  least  a  single  passage,  if  it  is  no  more." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID,  297 

"  Yes,  I'll  promise  you  all  that,"  said  Tom,  taking  the  little 
Bible  ;  and  I  think  just  then  he  could  say  no  more. 

"  It  will  be  a  help  to  you,  Tom,  as  you  will  sooner  or  later 
find.  The  verse  will  come  back  to  you  some  time  when  you 
least  expect  it,  and  you  will  see  some  new  meaning,  and  com- 
fort, and  sweetness  in  it,  and  wonder  you  never  felt  it  before. 
I  used  to  think  the  Bible  was  dreadful  dull  reading,  and  stuck 
to  it  as  a  matter  of  duty,  going  through  with  a  chapter  every  day 
as  a  sort  of  penance,  but  lately  —  I  can't  tell  how,  I've  found 
something  new  in  it,  and  passages  and  verses  here  and  there 
start  up  to  me  with  a  wonderful  new  life,  and  strength,  and 
beauty  —  passages  that  I'd  read  a  thousand  times  before  with- 
out finding  anything  in  them ;  it's  like  touching  some  secret 
spring,  and  lo  !  a  great  treasure  starts  into  view.  And  so  it 
will  be  with  you  in  some  hour  of  loneliness,  or  hardship,  or 
trouble ;  the  words  will  come  back  and  enter  right  into  your 
secret  pain  or  grief — the  very  comfort  of  God  ! ' 

"  Where  are  some  of  these  verses,  Rusha?"  asked  Tom, 
regarding  the  little  book  with  a  mixed  sort  of  look,  half  perplex- 
ity, half  wistful  reverence. 

"  I've  marked  a  few,  Tom,  that  have  done  me  good ;  but 
after  all,  I  suppose  you'll  find  them  .out  best  for  yourself.  No- 
body has  the  same  experience  in  these  things,  I  fancy,  and  I 
might  pass,  unheeding,  right  by  the  words  that  would  unlock 
their  hidden  riches  to  you  ;  only  it's  true  what  I  say,  and  some 
time  you'll  prove  it  so." 

Tom  put  the  volume  away  in  his  breast  pocket,  a  small  brown 
volume,  in  antique  binding,  his  own  name  flashing  a  line  of  light 
across  the  cover. 

"  I  shall  read  the  verse  and  look  at  the  face  there  once  every 

day,  Rusha !  " 

At  that  moment  the  girls  returned.  This  was  her  last  chance 
for  any  private  talk  with  Tom. 

The  young  captain  bore  himself  with  a  show   of  couraj 
through  what  followed.     It  had  been  previously  arranged 
his  father  and  brother  should  accompany  him  to  the  cars 
see  him  off;  but  this  the  women  could  not  do. 


298  DAEETLL   GAP,   OR 

It  was  the  cruelest  hour  of  Tom  Dtvrryll's  life  when  his  mother 
and  those  three  sobbing  girls  gathered  about  him  for  the  last 
kisses.  All  the  excitement  and  glory  of  war,  all  the  fierce  rush 
of  battle  and  the  joy  of  victory,  vanished  away  then.  If  he 
could  only  have  sat  down  among  them  and  cried  too,  he  thought ! 
but  Tom  felt  that  to  do  this  would  be  to  disgrace  forever,  not 
only  his  manhood,  but  his  profession  ;  and  at  that  moment  there 
floated  across  his  thought  those  grand  old  words  in  which  is  the 
essence  of  the  old  knightly  chivalry,  that  "  doublet  and  hose 
ought  to  show  itself  courageous  to  petticoat." 

Tom's  mother  had  her  right  —  the  last  kiss  —  but  Rusha's 
words  were  the  last  his  memory  carried  away,  "  God  go  with 
you,  Tom.  The  day  that  sees  any  harm  come  to  you  will  never 
see  me  lift  up  my  head  again ! "  And  he  went  out,  carrying 
his  strong,  brave  youth  to  the  chances  of  war,  as  our  noblest 
and  dearest  went  through  all  those  dreadful  four  years,  not 
knowing  whether  it  was  for  life  or  death. 

And  afterwards  there  came  to  the  splendid  home,  as  there 
came  to  the  lowliest  roofs  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land,  holding  them  all  in  one  common  bond,  the  eager, 
breathless  waiting  —  the  watching  day  by  day  for  tidings  from 
the  war  —  the  searching  of  the  paper  for  any  mention  of  that 
one  regiment  among  the  hosts  lying  darkling  down  there  on  the 
Potomac  —  the  one  regiment  in  which  Tom  was  captain,  and 
which  was  all  the  world  to  them  ! 

But  however  the  others  might  miss  him  —  however  the  ma- 
ternal heart  of  Mrs  Darryll  might  carry  its  yearning  for  her  boy 
by  night  and  by  day,  his  absence  could  come  home  to  nobody 
else  in  just  the  same  sense  that  it  did  to  Rusha.  The  moral 
affinities  betwixt  her  nature  and  Tom's  made  her  feel  the  wrench 
of  the  parting,  and  the  absence  that  followed,  in  a  way  that 
none  of  the  others  could.  She  never  realized  until  he  had  gone, 
what  this  brother  of  hers  had  been  to  her  ;  how  close  were  the 
intimacies  of  their  thought  and  feeling,  and  how  much  com- 
fort and  inspiration  their  interviews  had  given  her.  The  lit- 
tle alcove-library,  so  closely  associated  as  it  was  with  Tom, 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

oppressed  her  with  a  feeling  of  almost  intolerable  solitude,  and 
she  used  to  cast  about  in  a  vague,  perplexed  way  to  get  rid  of 
the  ache  and  loneliness  which  at  times  nearly  overwhelmed  her. 
Rusha  Darryll  had,  like  all  young  girls,  her  ideal  of  a  lover. 
That  this  -would  be  fashioned  somewhat  after  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  her  own  temperament,  was  a  matter  of  course ;  but  he  was 
something  fine  and  grand  and  loyal  —  an  incarnation,  in  short, 
of  every  manly  virtue  and  every  shining  grace  of  mind  and 
person. 

The  men  whom  she  met  in  society  in  no  wise  realized  this 
ideal.  They  gave  her  a  general  sense  of  chagrin  and  disap- 
pointment which  sometimes  developed  itself  in  sweeping  denun- 
ciations of  the  whole  sex. 

Yet  Rusha  Darryll's  ideals  and  fancies  had  a  stubborn  tenacity 
of  life,  and  the  sweet  perfumy  dreams  of  youth  still  clung 
around  her  heart,  filling  it  at  times  with  those  vague,  indescri- 
bable hopes  and  yearnings  which  always  belong  to  a  girlhood 
like  hers  —  a  girlhood  whose  dew  and  bloom  linger  late  in  their 
budding,  but  round  out  at  last  into  a  riper  and  completer  rose 
of  womanhood. 

After  Tom's  departure,  that  vague  sense  of  something  want- 
ing to  perfect  her  life,  an  inward  craving  for  some  finer  and 
deeper  sympathy,  made  themselves  felt  as  they  had  never  done 
before.  Sometimes  visions  of  a  new  life  which  was  to  complete 
and  sanctify  her  own,  trailed  in  shining  draperies  of  gold  and 
purple  before  her,  and  seemed  to  wait,  with  all  sweet  witcheries 
of  youth  and  hope,  along  the  enchanted  coasts  of  her  future. 

But  here,  as  everywhere,  the  old  doubts  and  gravitations 
assailed  the  soul  of  Rusha  Darryll.  Her  mother,  with  her 
eminently  practical  habit,  regarded  all  romance  as  an  absurd 
impossibility,  and  treated  the  loves  of  poets  and  books  as  some- 
thing fit  only  to  dazzle  the  brains  of  silly  girls,  and  lead  them 
into  all  sorts  of  fatal  mistakes. 

Deep  as  was  Mrs.  Darryll's  affection  for  her  husband,  it  was 
totally  devoid  of  sentiment,  and  she  spared  no  pains  to  instil 
into  the  minds  of  her  daughters  her  favorite  theory  that  an 


300  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

engagement  should  be  entered  into  with  the  same  common  sense, 
and  in  fact  "  with  the  same  eye  to  the  main  chance,"  that  one 
should  exercise  respecting  any  other  of  the  relations  of  life. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  Mrs.  Darryll  made  a  good  many 
sensible  arguments  on  this  point,  and  that  want  of  judgment 
and  of  wise  discernment  are  at  the  bottom  of  a  large  proportion 
of  the  unhappy  marriages  in  the  world.  But  it  was  Mrs.  Dar- 
ryll's  habit  of  treating  the  whole  thing  just  as  she  would  any 
other  bargain,  of  viewing  it  simply  as  an  arrangement  to  be 
entered  into  on  account  of  its  social  respectability,  and  for  its 
mere  extraneous  advantages  of  wealth  and  position  which  always 
made  the  finer  instincts  of  her  eldest  daughter  recoil. 

Yet  for  all  that,  it  had  its  influence,  especially  when  Rusha 
looked  abroad  in  the  world,  and  saw  with  that  clear  pene- 
trative gaze  of  hers,  that  always  went  straight  to  the  core  of 
things,  what  matrimony  was  to  most  of  the  men  and  women 
around  her. 

You  have  seen  that  it  was  the  girl's  misfortune  that  she  had 
always  been  thrown  among  people  whose  characters  and  aims 
were  of  the  most  worldly  sort  —  mere  fashionable  people  —  no 
better  no  worse,  than  others  of  their  class  ;  and  this,  added  to  the 
materializing  influences  of  her  home,  was  enough  to  shake  her 
faith  in  her  own  intuitions  and  ideals  of  love,  as  in  every- 
thing else. 

"  Was  there  not,  after  all,"  she  would  ask  herself,  "  a  great 
deal  of  truth  in  what  her  mother  said  about  the  sort  of  men 
that  existed  only  in  novels  and  in  the  brains  of  love-sick  girls 
—  was  not  her  own  ideal  of  brave,  generous,  lofty  manhood, 
of  knightly  strength  and  tenderness,  '  without  fear  and  without 
reproach,'  another  of  the  beautiful  impossibilities  and  sorceries 
of  the  imagination  that  had  played  her  false  so  often  —  some- 
thing that  her  heart  and  fancy  might  always  crave,  but  would 
never  find  ?  If  there  were  any  such  men  in  the  world,  where 
did  they  keep  themselves  ?  —  not  iu  their  set,  at  least ;  and  did  not 
that  pride  itself  on  its  exclusiveness,  on  its  riding  the  topmost 
wave  of  metropolitan  wealth  and  fashion  ?  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  301 

Eusha  counted  over  her  admirers  —  she  had  a  good  many 

she  might  have  had  a  good  many  more,  had  not  the  native 
transparency  of  her  character  prevented  her  from  taking  delight 
in  conquests  for  their  own  sake.  Still,  her  own  attractions, 
combined  with  her  father's  wealth,  always  procured  her  plenty 
of  lovers,  or  those  she  knew  only  required  a  slight  degree  of 
encouragement  to  become  so,  and  some  of  these  had  awakened 
a  passing  interest  or  fancy  in  the  girl. 

Not  one,  however,  had  wrought  more  than  a  transient  im- 
pression ;  but  in  the  new  yearning  for  sympathy,  in  the  void  and 
ache  which  Tom's  absence  made,  Rusha  was  fain  to  turn  some- 
where for  the  sympathy  her  soul  craved.  • 

It  was  a  dangerous  time  with  her  —  a  time  which  has 
wrecked  the  life  of  many  a  young  girl,  making  a  burden  and  a 
bitterness  of  all  the  years  which  remained  before  she  could  lay 
them  down  in  the  grave,  that  waits  to  hold  at  last  all  our  sor- 
rows and  joys,  our  loves  and  griefs. 

It  is  true  that  Rusha's  meditations  used  to  close,  generally,  with 
a  little  shudder,  as  she  drew  a  picture  of  her  future  with  some 
of  her  admirers.  Who  amongst  them  could  give  her  soul  the 
fin,e  sympathy  that  it  craved  ?  —  who  could  comprehend,  out  of  the 
fulness  of  his  own  nature,  her  perplexities  and  needs,  her  en- 
thusiasms and  aspirations,  her  longings  and  her  struggles? 
Who  could  steady  her  faith,  and  inspire  her  courage,  and 
strengthen  her  weakness  ?  —  who  be  to  her  at  once  a  rest  and  a 
stimulation,  a  trust  that  would  never  falter,  and  a  tenderness 
that  would  never  fail  ? 

Asking  these  questions,  and  a  great  many  others,  she  would 
shake  her  head,  that  dreary,  hopeless  look  on  her  face  which 
showed  the  want  and  pain  beneath. 

It  is  true  that  there  often  flashed  across  those  meditations  a 
thought  of  Fletcher  Rochford,  and  of  that  afternoon  when  they 
had  stood  together  on  the  sea  shore,  with  the  strong  tides  of 
the  ocean  coming  in  at  their  feet,  and  the  glory  of  the  sunset 
in  the  west.  She  would  never  forget  that  hour,  nor  what  Dr. 
Rochford  had  said  to  her  there. 
26 


302  DAERTLL    GAP,   OR 

Always,  too,  with  a  little  smile,  or  just  a  hint  of  a  blush,  she 
recalled  what  Tom,  the  dear  fellow  !  had  said.  There,  certainly, 
was  a  man  with  lofty  aims  and  true  purposes  consecrating  his 
whole  life.  She  could  never  forget  his  look  that  day,  nor  the 
warm,  joyful  tenderness  that  thrilled  his  smile  when  he  spoke 
of  God,  and  the  love  which  underlaid,  redeemed,  and  glorified  all 
human  life  —  all  its  perplexities,  and  mysteries,  and  sorrows. 
The  harp  of  this  man's  affections  might  lie  deep  in  his  nature  ; 
but  liusha  Darryll  never  doubted  it  was  there,  nor  that  the 
right  touch,  sweeping  over  its  chords,  would  waken  voices  of  deep 
immortal  music  —  music  whose  richness  might  fill  a  whole  life 
with  courage,  and  faith,  and  joy. 

But  if  she  thought  of  the  possibility,  she  certainly  never  did 
of  the  probability,  that  this  would  ever  fall  to  her  lot.  With  all 
her  approbativeness,  Rusha  Darryll  was  not  vain,  and  self-conceit 
was  not  in  the  texture  of  her  character.  She  held,  indeed,  a 
doubtful  estimate  of  herself  in  all  respects,  and  a  real  inward 
humility  which  one  might  not  always  have  suspected,  for  despite 
all  her  transparency  of  mood  and  impulse,  "  something  in  the 
girl  and  her  manner  were  a  little  at  variance." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


303 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

MATRIMONY  is  always  a  theme  of  interest  to  young  girls, 
and  of  course  the  various  gentlemen  of  their  especial  circle, 
particularly  those  whose  calls  and  attentions  afforded  good  evi- 
dence of  some  ulterior  purpose,  were  frequently  the  subjects  of 
domestic  discussion. 

It  was  amusing  to  hear  the  sprightly  talk  —  the  buzz  of  young 
bright  voices,  although  the  unsuspecting  victims  of  this  merci- 
less verbal  dissection  would  have  been  utterly  confounded,  could 
they  have  once  been  enlightened  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they 
were  disposed  of.  For  the  talk  went  on  after  the  manner  of 
young  women  on  such  a  theme,  with  all  its  extravagance,  ridi- 
cule, hyperbole  —  saying,  of  course,  a  great  deal  more  thau  was 
meant,  talk  that  would  have  made  the  inflated  self-conceit  of 
some  of  its  subjects  undergo  a  terrible  collapse. 

One  was  disposed  of  as  "  an  insufferable  bore  ;  "  another  was 
extinguished  as  that  "  horrid  old  thing ;  "  and  each  had  his  sep- 
arate and  unflattering  cognomen,  while,  waxing  merry  over 
their  chatter,  the  sisters  would  relate  all  sorts  of  amusing  little 
side  scenes,  placing  their  admirers  in  all  kinds  of  ridiculous  jux- 
tapositions and  relations  which  they  themselves  have  not  the 
remotest  suspicion  of  having  occupied. 

Mrs.  Darryll  used  to  sit  and  smile  over  all  this  breezy  talk. 
What  mother  is  ever  insensible  to  the  admiration  which  her 
daughters  inspire  !  This  one  used  sometimes,  however,  when  the 
merriment  waxed  too  explosive,  and  the  execution  too  whole- 
sale, to  come  to  the  rescue,  with  a  little  deprecating,  "  Girls, 
how  you  do  go  on  !  It's  dreadful  to  pull  people  to  pieces  in  this 

way." 

"  O,  well,  ma,"  Rusha  would  answer,  with  a  little  prick  of 


304  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

that  sensitive  conscience  of  hers,  "  you  know  we  always  put 
them  together  again  in  the  end." 

On  the  occasion  of  one  of  these  talks,  Ella  suddenly  turned 
to  her  sister,  with,  — 

"  Rusha.  don't  you  think  it  would  be  nice  to  have  a  wedding 
in  the  family?" 

"  That  depends  on  circumstances,"  was  the  rather  non-com- 
mittal response. 

"  Well,  I  think  it  would  now,"  continued  the  younger  sister 
in  an  animated  voice,  dropping  into  her  lap  some  graceful  trifle 
of  embroidery  with  which  she  was  making  a  pretence  of  sewing. 
"  There  is  always  so  much  excitement  and  sensation  in  a  wed- 
ding, and  of  course  ours  would  come  off  in  splendid  style. 
There  would  be  the  bride's  trousseau,  and  all  the  elegant  gifts, 
and  the  receptions,  and  afterwards  the  bridal  tour  to  Europe, 
for  that  is  the  fashion  now  —  really,  the  whole  thing  would  be 
delightful !  " 

"  No  doubt  it  would,"  said  Rusha,  with  only  a  qualified  de- 
gree of  sympathy.  "  But  matrimony  doesn't  end  with  the  hon- 
eymoon —  if  it  only  did,  I  agree  with  you  that  it  would  all  be 
very  charming." 

"  Well,  whether  it  does  or  not,  of  course  we've  all  got  to 
plunge  into  it,  sooner  or  later ;  and  you  are  the  oldest  —  you 
must  set  the  example  !  " 

"  But  what  if  I  haven't  settled  in  my  own  mind,  as  you  seem 
to  have  done,  that  matrimony  is  an  absolutely  compulsory  duty 
with  any  woman  !  " 

"Why,  of  course  it  is,  one  time  or  another,"  added  Ella, 
decidedly.  "  You  don't  expect  to  be  an  old  maid,  do  you, 
Rusha?" 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder.  I  certainly  had  far  rather  be  one,  than 
rush  into  matrimony,  simply  to  have  a  new  handle  to  my  name, 
or  because  it  is  a  time-honored  custom,  '  a  measure  full  of  state 
and  anxiety,'  as  Beatrice  calls  it ;  and  I  believe  half  woman-kind 
are  wooed  and  won  for  no  better  reasons  than  these." 

"  Well,  you'll  do  as  you  please,"  answered  Ella,  decidedly ; 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  305 

"  but  for  my  part  I  shall  get  married  one  of  these  days.  If  a 
woman  isn't,  everybody  is  sure  to  think  it's  because  she  hasn't 
had  a  chance,  no  matter  if  she's  had  scores  of  offers." 

"  I  think  it  would  be  very  little  to  any  woman's  credit  to 
have  a  '  score  of  offers,'  but  still  less  so  to  accept  one  for  no 
better  reason  than  to  let  the  world  know  she'd  had  it." 

"  Well,  then,"  changing  a  little  the  grounds  of  her  argument, 
"  I  think  it's  dismal,  anyhow,  to  be  an  old  maid.  It's  more  re- 
spectable and  dignified  to  get  married,  and  have  a  husband  and 
an  establishment  of  one's  own  —  now  isn't  it,  ma?"  for  during 
the  latter  part  of  this  conversation  Mrs.  Darryll  had  entered  the 
room. 

"  "Well,  I  suppose  it's  natural  for  girls  to  expect  to  get  mar- 
ried some  time,  and  it's  all  proper  and  right,  certainly,"  was 
the  guarded  rejoinder.  "  But  there's  one  thing  —  your  father 
isn't  in  any  hurry  to  marry  his  girls  off  his  hands.  He'll  be 
glad  to  keep  you  in  the  home  nest  as  long  as  you  want  to  stay." 

This  was  the  greatest  flight  of  metaphor  which  Mrs.  Darryll's 
fancy  ever  attempted. 

"  Of  course  he  would  —  dear  pa  !  "  said  Rusha.  "  And  I  go 
farther  than  Ella,  and  think  that  matrimony  is  not  only  the 
pleasantest,  but  that  it  is  the  dearest,  sweetest,  and  most  sacred 
relation  of  womanhood,  only  it  must  be  of  the  right  sort  —  of 
the  right  sort." 

"  Of  course,"  answered  Mrs.  Darryll.  "  But  then  young 
girls  are  apt  to  look  at  the  whole  thing  in  a  wrong  way  — 
through  pretty  romantic  notions  and  fancies  that  are  never  to  be 
found  in  this  world  —  never!  I  went  through  all  that  in  my 
youth,  and  I  know." 

Rusha  looked  up  at  her  mother  with  one  of  those  wistful, 
perplexed  glances  that  were  always  haunting  her  face.  She 
wondered  if  the  dreams  and  visions  were  like  her  own,  and  if 
she,  too,  should  ever  get  to  be  such  a  commonplace,  practical 
woman  as  her  mother,  and  talk  in  just  that  way  of  her  own 
youth ! 

"  I,  for  one,  mean  to  look  out  and  make  the  best  bargain  I 

26* 


306  DARBTLL   GAP,   OB 

can,"  continued  Ella,  "  and  I  set  my  mark  pretty  high,  too ; 
but  then,  of  course,  I  know  it's  useless  to  expect  impossibilities. 
But  I  must  have  a  man  who  is  good-looking  and  fascinating, 
and  has  money  and  position.  I  won't  take  less  than  that." 

"  That's  combining  a  good  many  desirable  qualities,  though," 
answered  her  sister,  "  and  not  very  easy  to  concentrate  in  one 
person." 

"  Well,  I  don't  know.  I  think  you  might  find  them  all  in 
one  of  your  lovers." 

"  Which  one?"  with  a  great  show  of  interest. 

"  Mr.  Apthorp.  I'm  sure  he  has  money  and  position,  and 
he's  fine-looking,  and  certainly  he's  agreeable.  Any  girl  would 
think  he  was  a  catch.  I  should  really  like  him,  now,  for  a 
brother-in-law." 

"  But  I  don't  suppose  the  thought  of  such  a  relation  ever  en- 
tered the  fellow's  mind  —  at  least,"  correcting  herself,  "I  am 
not  certain  of  it." 

"  Now  you  know  better,  Rusha  Darryll !  "  said  Ella,  turning 
squarely  upon  her  sister.  "  The  fellow  Is  certainly  smitten  with 
you.  I've  watched  him,  and  I  can  tell.  No  man  can  deceive 
me  on  that  score.  All  he  needs  is  proper  encouragement  on 
your  part ;  and  I  don't  believe  that  you'll  ever  have  a  better 
chance." 

Of  course  these  remarks  at  once  stimulated  the  maternal 
interest  and  anxiety  of  Mrs.  Darryll.  A  list  of  interrogations 
ensued  respecting  the  young  man's  antecedents,  position,  and 
wealth,  to  which  Ella  responded  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  while 
Rusha  sat  still  and  listened  with  an  unusual  quiet  in  her  face. 

"  I  wonder  what  your  father  would  think  of  the  young  man  !  " 
murmured  Mrs.  Darryll,  reflectively,  arranging  the  books  on 
the  table. 

"  I  think  pa  would  like  him,"  answered  the  younger  sister, 
who  had  borne  the  principal  share  in  the  talk.  "  He's  in  every 
respect  a  desirable  son-in-law.  Mrs.  Cyril  Apthorp,  too,  sounds 
very  nicely.  You'd  better  think  twice,  Rusha." 

"  O,  Ella,  do  hush  !  "  laughing  and  blushing. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


307 


But  the  elder  sister  obeyed  the  younger's  advice,  not  only 
thinking  twice,  but  an  infinite  number  of  times.  You  have  seen 
in  just  what  a  mood  Tom's  absence  had  left  her.  She  wanted 
something  stronger  than  herself  to  lean  against,  to  cliug  to,  after 
the  nature  of  woman. 

Young  Apthorp  was  certainly  unexceptionable  in  all  tangible 
respects,  and  her  natural  love  of  admiration  was  stimulated,  and 
she  did  feel  a  certain  thrill  of  gratitude  towards  him  for  his 
preference. 

Rusha  Darryll  would  never  gauge  a  man's  attentions  to  her- 
self for  any  more  than  they  were  worth ;  but  young  Apthorp 
had  certainly  indicated  his  preference  for  her  society,  above  all 
others,  in  ways  that  any  woman  could  but  interpret  as  pointing 
to  one  result. 

Rusha  liked  to  chat  with  him,  preferred  him  certainly  to  any 
man  in  their  set,  going  over  the  list  in  her  mind.  Still,  he 
never  wakened  anything  more  than  a  passing  emotion ;  never 
inspired  her  thoughts  ;  never  roused  her  feelings  ;  all  the  great 
gamut  of  her  emotions  lay  dumb  and  unresponsive  beneath  his 
touch.  He  was  good,  and  nice,  and  intelligent,  and  all  that  — 
she  could  not  place  her  finger  on  a  flaw,  only  —  her  face  set- 
tling into  a  great  doubt. 

But,  after  all,  was  not  her  mother  right  ?  Was  she  not  look- 
ing at  the  world,  and  at  manhood,  through  the  prisms  of  that 
troublesome  imagination  that  would  transfigure  everything,  giv- 
ing it  "  a  glory  and  "  a  radiance  not  its  own?  " 

If  she  could  only  make  up  her  mind  to  like  young  Apthorp ! 
She  might  never  have  so  good  a  chance  again,  as  Ella  said,  and 
it  would  be  a  very  delightful  thing  to  have  a  lover,  and  be  the 
dearest,  sweetest,  most  precious  thing  in  all  the  world  to  him. 
The  tears  came  into  her  eyes  as  she  thought  of  that. 

Rusha  Darryll  was  no  coquette  ;  but  I  think,  for  the  month 
that  followed,  she  did  flirt  with  young  Apthorp,  there  being 
at  the  bottom  of  this  one  grain  of  salt  that  redeemed  the  flirt- 
ing from  all  heartlessness  or  deceit.  She  was  trying  to  like 
her  lover.  For  the  man  was  really  this,  and  Rusha  sometimes 


308  DARRTLL    GAP,    OR 

thought  she  had  succeeded.  "When  he  was  away  she  did  manage 
to  invest  him  with  some  grace  and  ideal  charm  that  always 
vanished  on  his  appearance,  for  he  was  sure  to  resolve  himself 
straight  into  the  kind,  gentlemanly,  agreeable  Cyril  Ap thorp, 
just  what  any  woman  ought  to  love,  only  she  didn't  —  that  was 
all.  How  many  times  she  chided  herself  in  her  own  room  for 
this  !  And  yet  the  bare  fact  remained,  and  she  could  not  help 
herself. 

Cyril  Apthorp  brought  her  flowers,  gave  her  beautiful  books, 
and  Rusha  watered  and  cherished  the  one,  and  enjoyed  the 
other,  but  really  it  was  for  their  own  sake  —  not  for  the  giver's. 
His  attentions  were  so  marked  as  to  become  a  matter  of  com- 
ment in  their  own  set,  and  a  target  for  all  sorts  of  pretty  family 
jests. 

In  all  this  there  was  a  great  deal  that  was  pleasant.  Rusha' s 
vanity  —  I  dislike  to  give  it  so  harsh  a  name  —  certainly  en- 
joyed the  incense  that  her  lover's  devotion  offered  to  it ;  but 
beneath  all  this  the  heart  of  the  woman  lay  silent,  giving  back 
no  sound,  no  throb  of  passionate  tenderness  stirring  its  calm  — 
no  touch  revealing  one  strain  of  all  its  vast  harp  of  eternal 
melodies ! 

There  came  an  evening  when  Rusha  went  out  of  the  parlor, 
her  face  unbent  with  tremulousness  and  doubt,  that  empha- 
sized itself  about  the  lips  into  something  like  grief. 

The  faces  of  her  sisters,  as  they  met  her  at  the  sitting-room 
door,  were  in  marked  contrast  with  her  own,  their  eyes  and 
lips  in  a  twinkle  of  mirth. 

"Has  he  proposed  —  O,  has  he  proposed?"  they  cried  out 
simultaneously,  with  voices  that  aimed  at  tragedy,  but  somehow 
fell  short  of  it ;  and  they  danced  back  and  forth  before  her. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Darryll  sat  by  the  table,  looking  on,  and  evi- 
dently enjoying  the  whole  scene. 

"  Girls,  be  still.  Aren't  you  ashamed  to  go  on  so ! "  the 
faintest  little  smile,  in  which  was  no  element  of  triumph,  just 
articulating  itself  about  her  mouth. 

"  I  know  he  did,  now  !  "  persisted  Ella,  with  immense  unc- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  309 

tion.     « I  just  left  the  parlor  to  give  you  a  good  chance,  and 
I'm  dying  to  hear  all  about  it !  " 

"  So  am  I,"  added  Agnes,  with  a  girlish  curiosity  that  be- 
came her  years.  "  Do  tell  us,  Rusha  !  " 

She  sat  down  by  the  fire.  "It's  altogether  too  sacred  a 
thing  to  treat  in  this  way  ; ''  the  trouble  in  her  face  still.  "  Such 
a  matter  belongs  only  to  him  and  me." 

"  Rusha  Darryll !  you  are  the  oddest  girl  alive.  As  though 
it  wasn't  all  in  the  family,  and  we  hadn't  a  right  to  know ! 
But  then,  of  course,  it  isn't  to  be  expected  you'd  take  an  offer 
like  any  other  born  woman ! "  said  Ella,  with  some  asperity, 
which  had  its  rise  in  baffled  curiosity. 

"  Of  course  you'll  tell  your  own  family."  Mrs.  Darryll 
came  to  the  rescue.  "  I'm  sure  it  would  not  be  to  the  young 
man's  credit  to  desire  you  should  keep  it  from  us." 

Her  mother's  remark  set  the  matter  in  a  different  light.  In 
a  sense  it  was  certainly  true,  and  Rusha  was  not  then  in  a 
mood  to  balance  matters  nicely ;  for  she  had  that  high  sense 
of  honor  which  her  family  was  always  disposed  to  regard  as 
slightly  hypercritical.  So  the  facts  transpired,  and  they 
amounted  to  this  —  Cyril  Apthorp  had  paid  Rusba  the  high- 
est compliment  a  man  can  pay  a  woman ;  and  she  had  not 
accepted  him. 

"  I  couldn't  love  him,  pa  ;  I  tried  to,  hard  as  ever  a  woman 
did,  but  there  was  no  use ! "  and  she  turned  to  Mr.  Darryll, 
with  such  an  earnest  apology  in  her  tones,  while  these  and  her 
face  showed  that  both  were  on  the  point  of  breaking  up  into 
tears. 

"  Nobody  wanted  you  to,  child.  I'm  not  ready  to  give  up 
any  of  my  girls,"  said  her  father  in  his  very  kindest  manner. 
But  for  all  that,  Rusha  knew  that  no  one  of  his  daughter's 
suitors  would  have  been  so  acceptable  in  her  father's  eyes,  as 
the  one  she  had  just  declined. 

"  It  was  all  my  own  fault ;  "  the  grieved  tone  still  uppermost 
in  her  voice  :  "  but  though  I  liked  him  better  than  any  of  the 
others,  I  never  could  get  beyond  a  friendly  regard  for  him." 


310  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  It's  my  opinion,"  said  Ella,  oracularly,  "  you'll  live  to  see 
the  day  you'll  regret  it.  You've  got  some  foolish  crotchet  in 
your  head  about  love  and  romance,  and  all  that,  but  I  miss  my 
guess  if  you  haven't  let  good  luck  slip  to-night." 

"  That  may  be,  Ella,  but  I  shall  never  regret  doing  what  my 
heart  and  conscience  told  me  was  the  only  right  thing.  It's 
something  else  that  troubles  me  !  " 

"  What  is  that?"  Spite  of  its  mirthful  beginning,  the  con- 
versation had  settled  down  into  gravity  enough  now,  on  all  sides. 

"  I  can't  rid  myself  of  the  feeling  that  all  this  time  I've  been 
encouraging  Cyril  Apthorp.  I  was  trying  to  like  him,  of 
course,  or  I  should  never  have  done  this  ;  but  the  fact  remains, 
and  I  do  not  feel  comfortable  over  it." 

"  Encourage  a  man  !  That  is  an  awful  crime  !  No  doubt 
you  are  the  first  woman  who  ever  did  that,  Rusha  !  "  said  Ella, 
with  her  careless  laugh,  just  touched  with  a  little  contempt. 

"  And  that  is  not  all,"  continued  Rusha,  half  to  herself.  "  I 
am  sure  that  my  refusal  was  a  real  blow  to  him.  It  struck 
deep,  I  saw,  and  he  will  not  be  likely  to  get  over  it  very  soon." 
This  time  there  were  tears  in  her  eyes. 

"  Don't  you  trouble  yourself  on  that  score,  my  dear,"  said 
her  mother,  consolingly.  "  There  never  was  a  man  who  broke 
his  heart  for  a  woman  !  " 

'.'  Don't  you  remember  what  your  favorite  Rosalind  says  ?  " 
added  Ella :  "  '  Men  have  died  from  time  to  time,  and  worms 
eaten  them,  but  not  for  love ! '  Shakspeare  gauged  the  affec- 
tions of  his  own  sex  at  their  precise  value." 

"I  suppose  it's  so,"  said  Rusha,  drawing  a  long  sigh  of 
relief.  "  I'm  sure  I  hope  Mr.  Apthorp  will  forget  all  about  it 
in  a  little  while." 

She  had  her  feminine  love  of  admiration  —  she  took  the  nat- 
ural pleasure  of  her  sex  and  her  girlhood  in  the  conquest  she 
had  made,  but  she  was  perfectly  sincere  in  what  she  said  to- 
night. Sink  your  line  and  plummet  into  the  depths  of  her 
nature,  and  you  would  always  find  the  tender,  pitiful  heart  the 
deepest  and  truest  part  of  it. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

Still,  I  think  that  Cyril  Apthorp  would  have  felt  a  certain 
gratification  could  he  have  known  just  what  a  vacuum  the  loss 
of  his  society  made  in  Rusha's  life  at  this  juncture.  There  had 
been  a  certain  excitement  in  it,  and  the  knowledge  that  she  was 
loved  with  a  true  aud  loyal  love  —  that  she  was  the  dearest  and 
most  precious  thing  in  the  whole  world  in  the  eyes  of  an  hon- 
orable man  could  not  but  be  pleasant  to  her,  a  perpetual  offer- 
ing to  her  approbativeness,  a  perfumy  incense  to  her  self-love, 
which  has  won  the  hand,  at  least,  of  many  a  woman. 

The  result  of  all  this  was,  that  at  last  Rusha  sat  down  and 
confided  the  whole  to  Tom  —  a  curious  little  episode  for  him 
to  read  down  there  in  camp  on  the  Potomac;  but  then  life 
is  always  springing  strange  episodes  and  unexpected  events 
upon  us. 

Tom  wrote  back  in  unqualified  commendation  of  the  part 
Rusha  had  acted,  and,  with  the  valor  of  a  newly-fledged  officer, 
affirmed  himself  ready  to  shoot  the  next  man  who  dared  solicit 
any  part  or  lot  in  Rusha  Darryll.  She  belonged  to  him  abso- 
lutely, and  he  was  not  going  to  yield  an  inch  of  his  right  to  any 
living  man. 

As  for  love,  Tom  affirmed  he  had  long  ago  made  up  his  mind 
that  it  was  nine-tenths  a  humbug,  and  he  had  dedicated  himself  to 
old  bachelorhood.  When  the  war  was  over,  aud  he  had  finished 
his  studies,  Tom  had  forestalled  a  house  of  his  own,  over  which 
Rusha  was  to  preside.  What  happy  times  they  would  have  in 
some  little  Arcadian  retreat  among  hills  and  waterfalls,  where 
Tom  was  to  set  his  cottage,  hung  with  verandas,  and  draped 
with  flowering  vines !  All  sweet  persuasions  of  music,  all  in- 
spirations of  paintings,  all  the  life  and  joy  of  books,  should  be 
theirs ;  and  Tom  drew  such  pictures  of  their  perfect  happiness 
together,  that  Rusha's  eyes  thrilled  with  happy  tears.  What  a 
dear,  enchanted  life  it  would  be,  with  the  noisy,  harassing  world 
left  far  behind,  as  one  leaves  "  the  memory  of  storms  that  die 
below  the  horizon  !  " 

She  looked  off  through  the  future  years,  and  saw  the  fair  pic- 
ture shining  through  them,  and  did  not  know  that  it  was  only 


312  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

another  mirage,  hanging  fair  and  beautiful  along  the  slopes  of 
her  youth,  but  that  it  would  fade  and  fade,  and  that  in  its  stead 
would  come  the  heat  and  the  burden  of  the  noonday. 

At  the  very  time  that  Rusha  was  up  stairs,  devouring  Tom's 
letter,  Ella  happened  to  be  down  town  with  a  party  of  friends, 
on  some  shopping  expedition,  such  as  ladies  delight  in ;  for  it 
was  one  of  those  days  of  early  spring  in  which  the  prophetic 
soul  of  the  year  seems  suddenly  to  flash  up  through  cloud  and 
storm,  in  golden  smile  and  softly-brooding  air,  "  trying  a  chord 
here  and  there,  before  she  commences  the  grand  harmony  of 
the  seasons." 

The  little  party  was  all  in  high  glee,  with  nothing  heavier  on 
their  minds  just  then  than  a  buzzing  commentary  on  the  spring 
fashions ;  for  gossamer  fabrics,  and  flowers,  and  laces  made  a 
gorgeous  display  in  the  store  windows  that  morning.  Suddenly 
one  of  the  company  proposed  that  they  should  visit  a  picture 
gallery  near  at  hand ;  some  gems  of  oil  paintings  were  on 
exhibition,  which  were  talked  about  in  their  set. 

"  O,  yes  ;  I  remember,"  said  Ella,  "  Rusha  was  raving  about 
them  this  morning,  and  I  promised  her  I'd  go  down  town  with 
her  after  lunch.  But  the  paintings  will  bear  a  second  visit." 

Did  Ella  Darryll's  fate  await  her  that  morning  in  the  picture 
gallery?  It  is  best  for  us  all  to  go  softly  through  life,  not  know- 
ing what  any  hour  may  bring  forth  to  us. 

Certainly,  Ella  Darryll  would  not  have  mounted  the  stairs 
with  that  light  laugh  and  that  gossipy  hum  of  talk,  if  she  could 
have  known  what  was  inside.  Yet  it  was  no  more  than  Der- 
rick Howe.  He  was  idling  away  an  hour  among  the  pictures, 
with  a  party  of  gentlemen,  his  graceful  lounging  attitude  making 
him  conspicuous  among  the  others. 

Ella  Darryll  and  he  had  not  met  since  that  memorable  even- 
ing, which  rankled  still  in  his  thought,  and  which  had  given  to 
Derrick  Howe's  self-love  the  severest  blow  it  had  ever  received. 
He  had  never  felt  quite  so  assured  of  himself  since  that  time, 
and  though  he  had  often  debated  the  matter  in  his  thoughts,  he 
could  never,  as  he  phrased  it,  quite  "  screw  his  courage  up  to 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  313 

the  point  of  calling  on  Ella  and  demanding  an  explanation  of  her 
sister's  conduct."  The  prospect  of  being  "  snubbed  by  that 
purse-proud  speculator  "  was  not  pleasant. 

The  twp  met  squarely  this  morning.  There  was  a  little  flash 
of  confused  annoyance  on  Ella's  face,  but  she  was  a  fashionable 
young  lady,  and  had  her  expression  under  tolerably  good  control. 

It  was  her  nature  to  dislike  whatever  gave  her  trouble.  Cer- 
tainly Derrick  Howe  had  his  full  share  of  this  feeling  as  the 
young  lady  drew  herself  up  and  responded  with  a  distant  hauteur 
to  his  greeting,  wishing  at  that  moment  that  he  was  in  "  Jericho." 

For  Ella  had  made  her  promise  in  good  faith,  and  she  swept 
past  the  young  man  now  with  the  air  of  a  princess,  with  her 
graceful  figure,  with  the  rustle  of  her  rich  dress,  all  of  which 
Derrick  Howe  was  just  the  man  to  appreciate  and  admire. 

"  I'll  speak  to  that  girl  before  she  leaves  the  gallery  —  hang 
me  to  the  next  lamp-post  if  I  don't ! "  he  muttered,  saunter- 
ing after  the  party. 

Circumstances  were  certainly  in  his  favor.  The  gentlemen 
of  his  company  were  acquaintances  of  Ella's  friends,  and  soon 
bestowed  themselves  among  the  young  ladies. 

Ella  Darryll  devoted  herself  to  the  pictures,  a  little  fluttered 
internally,  notwithstanding.  A  little  way  off"  Derrick  Howe 
watched  his  opportunity. 

"  Whose  is  that?"  asked  Ella  of  one  of  the  gentlemen,  point- 
ing with  her  parasol  to  a  little  gem  on  the  walls,  a  bit  of  sea 
colst,  and  a  mass  of  broken  rock,  and  great  waves  storming 
against  it  in  a  white  frenzy  of  wrath. 

°  Somebody  passed  her  at  that  moment  and  jostled  the  parasol 
from  her  hand.  It  was  picked  up  and  restored  to  her  in  a 
moment.  Derrick  Howe  could  do  these  things  with  an  air. 

Ella  had  received  the  parasol  and  bowed  her  thanks  graciously 
before   looking   up.     She   recognized   the  gentleman.     It  was 
certainly  an  embarrassing  position  for  the  lady.     Derrick  H 
went  on  perfectly  at  his  ease,  criticising  the  pictures  and  I 
as  though  nothing  in  the  world  had  happened. 

The  others  joined  in  the  conversation,  and  Mr.  Howe  < 
27 


314  DAERYLL    GAP,    OR 

tinued  to  address  occasional  questions  and  remarks  to  Ella,  to 
which  she  must  respond,  or  else,  by  her  silence,  attract  the 
attention  of  the  others. 

He  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  that  morning,  with  success, 
one  might  suppose,  from  the  peals  of  laughter  which  followed 
his  sallies  of  wit —  wit  that  had  just  that  glitter  about  it  which 
tickles  light,  foolish  girls,  but  that  has  no  real  depth  or  sparkle, 
after  all. 

Ella  found  herself  laughing,  too.  Then  there  stole  across  her 
Rusha' s  authoritative  ultimatum,  and  her  own  promise,  "  That 
you  will  in  no  case  accept  any  courtesies  or  hold  any  conversa- 
tion with  him." 

Just  then,  however,  her  indignation  pointed  at  Rusha  instead 
of  Derrick  Howe. 

"What  can  I  do?"  she  questioned  herself.  "There  is  no 
help  for  it.  Of  course  I  can't  run  away  and  make  myself  a 
fool ! "  and  so  she  staid  on,  and  Derrick  Howe  talked  at  her 
and  to  her,  and  when  her  lady  friends  were  in  raptures  over 
him,  her  vanity  could  not  but  take  a  certain  pleasure  in  the 
marked  deference  which  he  paid  before  them  all  to  her  lightest 
word,  always  replying  to  any  general  remarks  of  hers,  even 
when  they  were  not  addressed  to  himself. 

When  at  last  the  time  came  to  leave,  Mr.  Howe  shook  hands 
with  each  of  the  ladies  ;  and  when  it  came  Ella's  turn,  she  could 
not  refuse  hers.  His  time  had  come  now.  He  held  the  gloved 
fingers  a  moment. 

"  This  morning  has  been  the  first  happy  one  which  I  have 
had  since  the  most  unaccountable  termination  of  our  last  inter- 
view, my  dear  Miss  Darryll,"  his  softest  tones,  his  blandest 
manner.  How  could  Ella  Darryll  resent  them  ? 

"  Of  course  Rusha  would  say  I  had  broken  my  word,  and 
that  it  was  my  duty  to  tell  her  the  whole  thing,"  reflected  Ella, 
as  she  rode  home  that  day.  " But  where's  the  use?  It  would 
only  bring  down  a  storm  on  my  head  ;  and  I'd  like  to  know 
what  business  she  had  to  force  such  a  promise  from  me  !  Of 
course,  having  given,  I  intended  to  keep  it ;  but  I  couldn't  fore- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  315 

see  what  happened  this  morning.  In  future  I  shall  avoid  Der- 
rick Howe  for  the  sake  of  peace.  I  think  it's  too  bad  I  should 
be  tyrannized  over  in  this  fashion  ;  and  it's  all  pa's  and  Rusha's 
absurd  prejudice.  Nobody  else  thinks  him  a  fool  or  a  villain. 
What  would  my  elder  sister  say  if  she  could  have  seen  that  look 
at  parting?"  a  little  shiver  here,  then  a  little  smile  of  gratified 
vanity.  "  Any  of  the  girls  there  would  have  gone  home  in  rap- 
tures over  it ;  but  it  must  never  happen  again  —  never.  There's 
my  promise." 

Derrick  Howe  paced  up  and  down  the  picture  gallery. 

"  All  I  want  is  time  and  opportunity  — time  and  opportunity, 
by  George  !  "  he  murmured ;  and  his  voice  had  a  hard  trium- 
phant chuckle  in  it. 


316  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

, 

As  the  spring  advanced,  the  usual  topic  of  the  summer's  mi- 
gration came  up,  in  due  form,  for  family  discussion. 

Ella,  of  course,  took  it  for  granted  that  they  would  adhere  to 
the  prescribed  forms,  commencing  with  Newport,  then  flitting 
briefly  to  the  mountains,  and  culminating  at  last  among  the 
gayeties  and  glories  of  Saratoga.  This  was  the  only  course 
ordained  by  fashion  and  display,  and  these  were  the  only  divini- 
ties which  the  soul  of  this  girl  worshipped  —  the  scales  never 
having  fallen  from  her  eyes,  so  that  she  could  look  up  and  see 
the  Juggernaut's  car,  nor  the  grinning  idol  that  sat  thereon, 
with  the  great  wheels  grinding  beneath  them  something  finer 
and  better  than  the  quivering  flesh  and  bones  of  men  and  women. 
"  I  say  unto  you,  my  friends,  be  not  afraid  of  them  that  have 
power  to  kill  the  body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they 
can  do." 

Ella  was  going  on  swimmingly,  dilating  on  all  the  prospects 
of  the  summer's  campaign,  the  talk  divided  in  about  equal  pro- 
portions betwixt  her  wardrobe  and  her  plans,  when  Rusha  sud- 
denly broke  into  these  glowing  visions  with  her  decided,  "  Of 
course,  Ella,  you'll  do  as  you  have  a  mind,  but  one  thing  I'm 
settled  on  —  I  shall  keep  clear  of  all  fashionable  watering- 
places,  and  of  gayety  and  dissipation  in  general,  for  the  next 
summer." 

"  Rusha  Darryll,  you  always  do  manage  to  throw  a  wet 
blanket  on  one's  plans.  "What  new  tack  have  you  taken  now  ?  " 

Irritation  was  apt  to  develop  itself  in  Ella,  in  the  use  of 
somewhat  mixed  and  coarse  metaphors. 

"  I  can't  forget,"  with  a  little  restless  tap  of  her  foot  on  the 
rug,  "  that  I  have  a  brother,  a  few  hundred  miles  off,  who  is 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  317 

liable  to  be  shot  dead  any  hour :  and  while  that  is  the  case,  I 
will  never  disgrace  myself  by  rushing  into  a  round  of  dissipa- 
tion and  revelry,  such  as  we've  had  for  the  last  two  summers. 
I've  a  little  self-respect  left,  and  a  little  conscience  too,  though 
both  have  gone  through  some  toughening  processes ;  but,  at 
least,-  they'll  keep  me  clear  of  Newport  and  Saratoga  this 
summer." 

"  Well,  you  know  I  never  did  approve  of  Tom's  going  to  the 
Avar  ;  but  as  he  was  bent  on  it,  I  can't  see  why  we  should  make 
martyrs  of  ourselves  in  consequence.  It  wouldn't  do  him  any 
good,  certainly." 

Mr.  Darryll  laid  down  his  paper,  and  the  rest  of  the  family 
disposed  themselves  in  various  listening  attitudes,  bringing,  thus 
far,  no  forces  to  the  debate  which  was  going  on,  rather  sharply, 
betwixt  the  sisters. 

"  Of  course,  Ella,  our  going  or  staying  will,  as  you  say,  do 
the  poor  fellow  no  good  ;  but  there  is  a  ghastly  discrepancy  in 
our  wasting  the  summer  in  all  sorts  of  frivolities  while  that 
death-bolt  hangs  over  Tom's  head." 

"  O,  Rusha,  don't !  "  groaned  Mrs.  Darryll. 

"  Well,  if  we  follow  your  advice,  and  shut  ourselves  up  here 
to  boil  and  roast  through  the  dog-days,  there  won't  be  much  of 
us  left  by  next  fall ;  we  may  settle  on  that,"  replied  Ella,  in  a 
dismally  resigned  tone,  which  meant,  however,  anything  but 
acquiescence  in  her  sister's  views. 

"  But  all  the  world  does  not  chance  to  be  included  in  New- 
port and  Saratoga,  as  your  remark  implies  ;  and  in  case  we  do 
not  go  there,  we  are  not  shut  up  to  your  alternative  of  boiling 
and  roasting  in  town." 

"  O,  I  see  now ! "  a  tone  pendulous  betwixt  triumph  and 
contempt.  "  You  want  to  go  off  and  shut  yourself  up  again, 
with  the  rest  of  the  family,  in  that  dreary,  forsaken  old  corner 
of  creation,  Berry  Plains.  It's  strange  I  didn't  perceive  what 
you  were  driving  at.  But  you  won't  catch  this  child !  Why, 
I  should  go  distracted  with  ennui,  and  throw  myself  off  from 
the  first  rock  into  the  sea,  before  the  week  was  over ! ' 
27* 


318  DARRTLL   GAP,   OB 

"  No,"  said  Rusha,  in  no  wise  affected  by  the  tragical  fate 
which  her  sister  predicted,  "  I  should  not  want  to  go  to  Berry 
Plains.  Tom  and  I  were  there  together,"  her  voice  faltering 
a  little,  "  and  it  was  before  Andrew  —  "  dropping  the  burden 
of  her  sentence  here,  and  taking  up  a  new  one,  with  a  repeated, 
"  No  ;  I  should  not  want  to  go  to  Berry  Plains  !  " 

Ella  waited  a  moment. 

"Well,  what  is  your  plan,  Rusha?"  her  voice  softened  a 
good  deal. 

"  Really,  I  have  none  formed.  It  strikes  me  that  it  would 
be  the  nicest  thing  to  go  off  to  some  quiet  place,  where  we  could 
combine  delightful  scenery,  and  fresh  air,  and  freedom  of  every 
sort." 

"  I  think  I  should  like  that  now,  of  all  things,"  added  Mrs. 
Darryll,  whose  nerves  had  never  quite  reacted  from  several 
shocks  which  they  had  sustained  during  the  past  year.  "  I 
must  say  I  never  can  stand  again  those  little  boxes  of  rooms, 
and  all  the  tiresome  dress  and  parade  of  your  fashionable  water- 
ing places." 

"  As  for  country  farm-houses,  they're  a  humbug,"  put  in  Guy, 
to  whose  youth,  quiet  and  retirement  were  only  synonymes  for 
dulness.  "  We  shall  be  taken  in  by  some  old  skinflint,  who'll 
give  us  feather  beds  to  sleep  on,  and  boiled  pork  aud  cabbage 
for  dinner !  Go  to  bed,  too,  and  get  up,  with  the  chickens ! 
That  trip  won't  pay." 

Rusha  laughed. 

"  The  whole  country  outside  of  New  York  is  not  in  quite  so 
benighted  a  condition  as  you  and  Ella  seem  to  take  for  granted. 
If  it  were,  I  should  suggest  that  we  all  start  out  as  missionaries 
at  once.  But  I  admit  there  are  difficulties  in  the  way  of  com- 
bining all  we  want  in  a  private  boarding-house." 

"  And  who  is  going  to  scour  the  country  round  to  hunt  it 
up?"  pursued  Guy,  very  glad  to  invoke  any  spectres  in  the 
way  of  a  plan  which  met  his  cordial  disapprobation.  "  The 
governor,  I  reckon,  has  got  other  business  on  hand,  and  it 
wouldn't  be  safe  to  put  it  on  me  !  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  319 

"  If  we  only  owned  a  country-seat  now  !  "  spoke  up  Agnes. 
"  How  nice  it  would  be  to  go  there  about  three  months  out  of 
the  year  —  so  distingue,  too  !  " 

She  had  a  little  school-girl  affectation  of  spicing  her  talk  with 
French  phrases  and  synonymes. 

"  Yes,  I  must  say,  I  should  like  that  of  all  things,"  added 
Ella,  complacently. 

Suddenly  Rusha  bounded  off  her  seat,  her  face  all  in  a  fresh 
light. 

"  O,  pa,  I've  thought  of  the  very  thing !  " 
"  What  is  it,  child  ?  "  and  again  everybody  listened. 
"  We  can  take  some  house  of  our  own,  a  pretty  little  cot- 
tage, furnished  or  unfurnished,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  have 
our  own  home  and  our  own  servants  all  the  summer,  without 
anybody  to  molest  us." 

This  proposition  did  not  meet  with  universal  favor.  Various 
objections  were  started,  which  Rusha  disposed  of,  while  Mrs. 
Darryll  openly,  and  her  husband  secretly,  inclined  to  the  elder 
daughter's  suggestion. 

"  A  good  many  of  the  first  people  do  rent  cottages  by  the 
sea  shore  for  the  summer,  and  with  our  carriage  and  servants, 
and  everything  in  the  best  style,  I  don't  know  as  the  plan  would 
be  bad,"  condescended  Ella,  at  last. 

"  I  think  now  it  would  be  nicer  than  the  hotels,"  subjoined 
Agnes.  "  But  where  in  the  world  should  we  go?  That's  the 
question." 

Then  Rusha  found  her  voice  again. 

"  There  isn't  but  one  place  in  the  world  to  be  thought  of, 
and  that  is  the  mountains.  Just  think  of  living  amongst  them, 
of  standing  face  to  face  with  all  their  beauty  and  glory,  for  a 
whole  summer.  O,  pa,  it  must  be  the  mountains  !  " 

"  Too  far  off,"  said  Guy.  "  Be  a  real  bore,  too,  before  the 
season's  over.  Want  to  go  to  the  sea  shore,  where  we  can  find 
folks,  and  have  a  good  time." 

"  We  can  have  the  sea  all  the  year  round."  persisted  Rusha ; 
"  and  as  for  '  folks,'  my  greatest  trouble  most  of  the  time  is  to 


320  DAEETLL    GAP,   OR 

get  out  of  their  way.  We  must  go  to  the  mountains,"  her 
whole  soul  on  fire  with  the  prospect ;  and  when  Rusha  Darryll 
set  her  heart  on  anything,  she  generally  carried  her  own  point, 
though  in  the  first  place  it  might  encounter  the  opposition  of 
her  whole  family. 

Ella's  suggestions  all  leaned  in  favor  of  the  sea  shore,  her 
strongest  objection  to  the  mountains  being  founded  on  a  gen- 
eral vague  impression  of  the  loneliness  and  ruggedness  of  the 
country  in  their  vicinity ;  but  Rusha  put  that  to  flight  by  citing 
the  names  of  several  families  who  had  rented  houses  under  the 
shadow  of  the  White  Hills  —  names  which  had  immense  weight 
with  her  sister. 

So  all  serious  opposition  narrowed  itself  down  to  one  point, 
and  this  was  the  remoteness  of  the  mountains.  Rusha  admitted 
the  force  of  this  objection,  losing  nothing  by  it  in  the  end,  for, 
when  her  mother  said,  — 

"  If  it  was  on  the  Hudson,  for  instance,  your  father  could 
run  up  every  Saturday  night,  and  have  the  change  and  the 
fresh  air,  —  " 

The  daughter  answered,  — 

"  Yes ;  but  you  know  the  doctor  said  last  summer  that  he 
wished  he  could  put  the  city  a  thousand  miles  off  from  pa  for 
at  least  three  months." 

"  I'd  like  to  see  the  man  who  could  get  my  business  out  of 
the  knot  it  would  be  in  by  that  time,"  said  her  father,  in  a  tone 
of  rather  unusual  pleasantry. 

Of  course  the  decision  was  not  made  that  night,  nor  for  a 
good  many  to  come  ;  but  it  became,  thereafter,  a  theme  of  con- 
stant discussion  at  breakfast  and  dinner,  indeed,  whenever  the 
family  met  together.  Rusha's  enthusiasm  fairly  infected  the 
others.  Such  pictures  as  she  drew  of  life  up  there  among  the 
New  Hampshire  hills  —  pictures  with  the  very  dew  and  fresh- 
ness of  the  mountains  upon  them  —  of  a  life  bewitched  with  its 
own  freedom  and  rioting,  intoxicated  amid  scenes  of  beauty 
and  grandeur ! 

They  were  practical   people  who  listened  to  her  talk,  but 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  321 

somehow,  despite  themselves,  the  gold  and  glow  of  Rusha's 
roused  imagination  wrought  a  kind  of  transfiguration  in  the 
minds  of  all  who  heard  her.  The  fiery  intenseness  and  vitality 
of  her  nature  fairly  seized  others  against  their  own  wijl ;  and 
the  mountains  were  the  mightiest  joy  and  glory  of  Rusha's  life. 
They  had  stirred  and  lifted  her  soul  to  their  own  heights,  as 
even  the  vast,  restless,  solemn  sea  had  never <lone. 

In  their  presence  all  pettiness,  weariness,  disgust,  even  all 
those  yearnings  that  haunted  and  made  so  much  of  the  bitter- 
ness of  her  fine,  aspiring  youth,  were  swallowed  up,  and  a 
solemn  exultation  and  joy  filled  her  whole  being,  as  the  rivers 
fill  the  sea. 

She  could  never  forget  that  first  week  in  New  Hampshire. 
It  lifted  itself  out  from  the  other  memories  of  her  life,  as  the 
mountains  lifted  themselves  up  in  kingly  majesty  from  the  plains 
at  their  feet.  She  was  not  conscious,  herself,  until  she  had  left 
them,  of  that  great  tidal  swell  of  feeling,  which,  going  down, 
had  left  the  days,  for  a  while,  like  bare  flats  of  sand,  reaching 
away  into  dreary  weeks. 

Long  before  anybody  had  admitted  in  words  that  the  moun- 
tain ho°use  was  a  settled  plan,  Rusha  had  the  details  all  arranged, 
and  she  managed  to  weave  the  fine  bloom  of  her  fancy  over 
the  most  prosaic  of  these,  while  she  was  too  thoroughly  in  ear- 
nest to  be  in  any  wise  conscious  of  the  glamour  her  imagination 
poured  over  everything. 

Mrs.  Darryll,  too,  found  a  certain  pleasure  in  makmj 
ran-ements  for    "the  cottage,"  excusing  herself  for  anything 
that°looked  like  a  flight  into  the  field  of  fancy,  by  always  com- 
mencing with,  "Of  course  it  is  very^ doubtful  whether 
ever  come  to  anything  more  than  talk." 

The  youn-er  sisters  began  to  invest  the  whole  thing  witl 
certain  romance,  and  to  find  all  sorts  of  material  for  spor 
adventure  in  the  prospect  of  the  change. 

.    Guy  talked,  with  a  slightly  swaggering  an*,  about  brmg.n 
down  a  bear    occasionally  in  that  « unexplored  reg.on, 
iTes  dwelt  with  rapture  on  the  life  and  duties  of  a  da.rv.na,, 
and  the  becoming  picturesqueness  of  white- aprons,  hopelessly 


322  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

confounding  the  character  with  that  of  a  gypsy  and  a  hama- 
dryad ;  for  neither  her  history  nor  her  mythology  had  attained 
much  limpidness  at  this  period. 

Even  Ella  fell  into  the  current  of  partiality  which  set  so 
strongly  towards  the  White  Mountains,  and  allowed  that,  as  all 
the  world  went  there,  if  a  place  could  be  found  on  the  stage 
route  of  the  grand  hotels,  the  experiment  might  not  prove  so 
bad,  after  all. 

While  the  matter  was  pending,  Mr.  Darryll  had  a  sudden 
business  call  to  Boston,  and  there  chance  threw  in  his  way 
some  gentlemen  from  Concord  who  were  familiar  with  the 
mountain  region.  A  few  inquiries  developed  just  the  sort  of 
information  that  he  desired.  One  of  the  gentlemen  knew  of  a 
small  cottage-villa  that  had  been  put  up  for  a  summer  residence 
by  an  Englishman,  a  little  outside  of  the  main  route  from  Lit- 
tleton to  the  Willey  Notch,  and  about  midway  between  the  two. 

The  house  was  a  little  summer  nest,  containing  about  half  a 
dozen  rooms,  with  a  general  physiognomical  resemblance  to  the 
little  cottages  one  finds  sprinkled  along  the  Canada  side  of  the 
Falls,  and  which  are  so  suggestive  of  cosyness  and  home. 
They  had  attracted  Mr.  Darryll  more  than  anything  else  in  his 
visit  to  Niagara.  The  owner  was  about  to  return  to  England, 
and  the  cottage  could  be  leased  for  a  term  of  years.  Such  a 
chance,  however,  would  be  likely  to  be  "  snapped  up,"  to  use 
the  vernacular  of  Mr.  Darryll's  informant,  "  in  a  few  days  ;  for 
everything  of  that  sort  went  at  a  high  premium  near  the  moun- 
tains." 

John  Darryll  turned  over  the  whole  thing  in  his  mind  for  a 
single  night,  and  the  result  was,  that  the  next  morning  found 
him  on  the  train  for  Littleton,  accompanied  by  his  New  Hamp- 
shire friend. 

A  little  two-story  nest,  with  green  verandas  closing  it  on 
every  side,  hung  in  a  very  wilderness  of  beauty  on  the  slope  of 
a  hill,  less  than  half  a  mile  from  the  main  road.  Such  a  rev- 
elry of  green  life  and  beauty  as  there  was  all  about  this  dainty 
cage  —  such  fresh,  dewy  stillness  and  coolness  and  wildness ; 
on  one  side,  a  little  waterfall  pouring  over  a  gray  lap  of  rock, 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  323 

and  always  haunting  the  air  with  its  sweet  chord  of  falling 
waters ;  such  cool  glooms  and  rich  green  on  the  side  of  the 
savage  forests,  while  far  beyond  the  sweep  of  the  fair  valleys 
and  reaches  of  pasture  rose  the  Mount  Washington  range  — 
peak  after  peak  lifting  itself  towards  the  sky,  wearing  the  splen- 
dors of  sunlight  or  the  terror  of  storms  ;  while  along  those  gray 
stairways  of  crags  the  gaze  climbed  and  climbed,  and  the  soul, 
entranced,  followed  after,  until  both  rested  at  last  on  that  height 
where  Mount  Washington  unveils  the  awful  sadness  of  its  fore- 
head. On  the  other  side  stood  that  royal  mountain,  Lafayette, 
with  its  princely  hills  clustered  in  homage  about  it  —  the  grand 
old  face  scarred  with  the  path  of  its  streams,  now  looming  spec- 
tral and  terrible  through  its  swathing  clouds  of  mist,  and  now 
standing  out  in  all  its  rugged,  solemn  strength  and  majesty  in 
dazzling  pomps  and  effects  of  sunlight. 

John  Darryll  walked  from  angle  to  angle  of  the  piazza,  taking 
in  from  one  point  and  another  all  the  ravishing  glory  of  this 
picture.  Even  to  his  world-hardened  soul,  the  scene  had  some- 
thing to  utter. 

,  "  What  would  Rusha  say  to  all  that?  "  he  muttered  once  to 
himself. 

At  last  he  went  over  the  house,  and  coming  out  of  the  front 
door,  as  the  result  of  all  his  investigations,  he  said  to  his  com- 
panion, — 

"  If  money  will  fix  it,  I'll  have  my  family  up  here  in  three 

weeks." 

There  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  Mr.  Darryll  thought  "  luck 
was  on  his  side  that  day,"  for  on  his  return  to  Concord  he  found 
the  owner  of  the  mountain  cottage,  stopping  over  night  iu  the 
city.  A  bargain  between  the  two  men  was  soon  completed. 
Mr.  Darryll  obtained  a  lease  for  a  term  of  years,  and,  this 
business  having  been  completed,  the  very  next  morning  found 
him  on  his  way  home. 

Of  course  the  news  he  carried  took  his  whole  family  by  s 
prise.     Nothing  else  was  talked  of  thereafter ;  and  the  man  h; 
to  sustain  an  amount  of  interrogations  that  was  appalling  to  one 
so  little  given  to  description  of  any  sort  as  was  John  Darryll. 


324  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

The  comment  of  each  was  characteristic  ;  but  when  her  father 
concluded  with,  — 

"  You'll  all  think  I  did  a  capital  thing ;  but  as  for  Rusha, 
when  she  comes  to  see  the  mountains  round,  I  expect  she'll  be 
carried  right  out  of  herself," — 

"  The  mountains,  pa,  are  they  really  in  sight,  though?  "  cried 
the  voice,  full  of  an  ecstasy  of  delight. 

"  Well,  I  should  think  they  were,  as  many  as  you  can  take  in 

—  wait  and  see  —  that's  all." 

She  got  right  up  then,  went  over  to  his  side,  and  though  she 
was  the  oldest  of  his  children,  she  gave  him  what  none  of  the 
rest  ever  did  —  a  real  hearty  hug. 

"  Nonsense,  child,  nonsense  !  "  said  the  man  ;  but  the  words 
and  the  little  attempt  at  gruffuess  were  transparent  enough. 

Mrs.  Darryll's  questions  all  took,  of  course,  the  most  practical 
drift ;  but  when  she  came  to  learn  the  actual  capacities  of  the 
"  country-seat,"  as  her  daughters  ambitiously  termed  the  English 
cottage,  she  was  thoroughly  dismayed. 

"  No  matter,  ma  ;  we  are  to  live  in  a  bird's  nest,  and  we  must 
stow  as  thick  as  the  robins." 

Rusha' s  clause  was  rather  poetical  than  practicable,  and  the 
lady  shook  her  head  despondently. 

"  The  robins  have  all  out  doors  besides,"  she  said. 

"  And  so  will  you,  when  you  get  up  there,"  rejoined  her  hus- 
band, promptly  ;  and  there  being  no  help  for  it,  Mrs.  Darryll  set 
herself  to  solving  the  problem  of  the  utmost  economy  of  space 

—  a  perplexing  one,  it  must  be  admitted,  when  there  are  six  of 
one's  own  family,  and  at  least  three  servants,  to  bestow  in  a 
house  whose  utmost  capacity  did  not  exceed  seven  rooms. 

"  It  is  out  of  the  question ;  it  never  can  be  done,  ma,"  said 
Ella,  in  tones  of  doleful  decision. 

But  necessity  will  surmount  apparent  impossibilities ;  and 
when,  after  turning  the  material  which  they  had  on  every  side, 
the  largest  chamber  was  assigned  to  the  three  girls,  and  a  closet 
opening  out  of  it  to  Guy,  and  the  barn-loft  pressed  into  a  lodg- 
ing for  the  man  servant,  the  matter  was  settled. 

"  It'll  be  awful  tight  squeezing,  ma,"   said  Agnes,  looking 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  325 

half  pathetically  around  the  spacious  drawing-room,  in  which 
they  might  almost  have  set  the  mountain  cottage. 

"  It  won't  be  worse,  anyhow,  than  the  cells  we've  had  to  put 
up  with  at  the  watering-places',"  said  Guy,  consolingly. 

Busy  times  ensued.  The  Darrylls  were  eager  to  get  out  of 
town  as  soon  as  possible,  as  it  was  now  approaching  June. 

There  was  all  the  cottage  furniture  to  be  bought  and  sent 
away,  and  the  task  of  selection  devolved  on  the  girls.  They 
went  into  it  heartily.  There  was  a  novel  pleasure,  and  a  sort 
of  romantic  adventure,  in  the  whole  thing  that  appealed  strongly 
to  their  youth.  Both  the  young  ladies  had  good  taste  enough  to 
see  the  essential  vulgarity  of  any  attempt  at  display  in  the 
present  ca?e,  and  their  choice  of  cottage  appointments  did  them 
credit.  Soft,  cool  mattings,  with  pretty  light  sets  of  furniture  to 
match  in  browns  and  greens,  and  easy,  portable  chairs,  and  pearl- 
colored  hangings,  with  just  a  touch  of  warmth  in  the  borders, 
and  linen  curtains  with  dark  green  margins,  and  brackets  for 
angles,  and  a  moderate  supply  of  choice  engravings,  with  three 
or  four  of  Rusha's  pet  pictures,  made  up  the  prominent  belong- 
ings of  the  mountain  nest. 

These  were  despatched  under  the  charge  of  a  man  and  woman 
servant,  who  were  to  have  the  cottage  in  complete  readiness  for 
the  advent  of  the  family.  Rusha  was  busy  as  a  bee  all  this 
time,  her  face  in  a  bright  warmth  of  activity,  which  made  it  a 
pleasant  thing  to  look  at. 

"  O,  ma  !  "  she  said,  coming  home  thoroughly  tired  out  with 
a  day  among  furniture  warehouses,  "  you  don't  know  how  I 
enjoy  it  all.  I  expect  to  be  happier  this  summer  than  I  have 
ever  been  in  my  life  before." 

"There's  one  thing  —  we  shan't  want  to  take  any  elegant 
dresses,  living  up  there  in  the  woods,"  said  Agues.  "  I'm  going 
to  wear  nothing  but  white  aprons,  and  delicate  lawns,  and  just 
the  dearest  little  gypsy  hat  with  a  golden  brown  plume.  It  will 
be  so  picturesque  —  only  I  don't  suppose  the  people  around  there 
will  be  capable  of  appreciating  anything  of  that  sort;  still,  it 
must  create  a  sensation  ! ' 
28 


326  DARRTLL    QAP,   OR 

"Aggie,"  added  Rusha,  with  a  pleasant  little  laugh,  "your 
vanity  is  so  transparent  one  can't  find  the  heart  to  ridicule  it." 

"  As  for  elegant  dresses,"  added  Ella,  "  I  shall  take  the  very 
best  I  have.  With  the  Crawford  on  one  side  and  the  Profile 
on  the  other,  there's  no  danger  of  our  being  buried  up  all  sum- 
mer. Whenever  it  gets  dull  at  home,  we  shall  have  the  hotels 
in  reserve,  and  we  shall  be  sure  to  meet  hosts  of  friends  there 
during  the  season.  Otherwise  my  consent  never  could  have 
been  obtained  to  this  mountain  plan." 

The  very  day  before  the  Darrylls  left  the  city,  Ella,  being 
down  town,  chanced  upon  a  party  of  friends,  Avho  were  also 
just  on  the  point  of  their  summer  flight.  She  was  dilating  on 
the  mountain  project,  when  who  should  come  along  but  Derrick 
Howe  — "  the  very  one  man  in  all  the  world,"  Ella  thought, 
"  whom  she  did  not  wish  to  see  at  that  moment."  Graceful 
and  self-possessed  as  usual,  he  paused,  lifted  his  hat,  and  joined 
the  ladies,  with  whom  he  was  on  familiar  terms. 

Ella's  talk  had  stimulated  the  curiosity  of  the  young  girls,  and 
she  was  just  launching  out  on  a  full  tide  of  sparkling  description 
of  their  home  and  their  life  to  be,  when  the  young  man  appeared. 
She  was  compelled  to  proceed  by  the  entreaties  of  the  others, 
and  Derrick  Howe,  with  the  profoundest  regrets  at  his  intrusion 
on  their  talk,  offered  at  once  to  withdraw. 

But  he  was  besieged  by  the  ladies  in  a  chorus  of  "  O,  do 
remain  and  hear,  Mr.  Howe.  You  will  be  so  interested  !  "  And 
of  course  he  staid. 

What  could  Ella  do  but  go  on  with  her  talk?  The  mountain 
project  had  a  dash  of  originality  and  romance  in  it  which 
would  be  certain  to  attract  young,  pleasure-loving  people,  and 
Ella  enjoyed  the  theme,  and  Derrick  Howe  listened,  and  asked 
questions  with  the  others,  and  looked  very  handsome  toying  with 
his  gloves. 

"  O,  it  must  be  perfectly  charming  !  "  exclaimed  one  of  the 
young  ladies.  "  Such  a  glimpse  of  gypsy  life  makes  the  pros- 
pect of  watering-places  dull  enough  ;  only,  what  will  you  do  for 
society  ?  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


327 


"  O,  the  cottage  is  within  a  few  hours'  ride  of  both  the  hotels. 
Whenever  it  gets  dull,  I  shall  go  there." 

Derrick  Howe  spoke  up  now :  « I  have  been  promising  my- 
self  the  tour  of  the  mountains  this  summer."  (He  had°until 
that  moment  entertained  no  remotest  thought  of  this  kind.)  "  It 
is  possible  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  at  one  of 
the  hotels  during  the  season." 

"  O,  how  nice  that  will  be  I "  put  in  one  of  the  girls,  who  ad- 
mired Mr.  Howe. 

"  O,  yes.  very,"  replied  Ella,  feeling  that  she  must  say  some- 
thing, and  those  words  coming  first. 

When  her  friends  took  leave,  Derrick'  Howe  loitered  a 
moment  behind  the  others,  and  taking  Ella's  hand,  lifted  it  to  his 
lips  before  she  could  prevent  the  movement. 

"  Miss  Darryll,"  he  said, —  and  the  man  knew  precisely  how  to 
say  and  do  this  in  the  most  effective  manner,  —  "  the  thought  of 
meeting  you  will  be  all  I  shall  live  on  this  summer ! " 

He  bowed  over  the  tightly-clasped  hand,  and  was  gone. 

"  I'm  sure  I  wasn't  to  blame  ;  I  couldn't  help  it ;  I  shouldn't 
have  allowed  it  had  I  known,"  muttered  Ella,  her  conscience, 
which  was  not  apt  to  be  troublesome,  giving  her  a  twinge  as 
she  thought  of  Rusha.  "  I  shall  look  out  and  keep  clear  of  him 
at  the  mountains.  And  there's  no  use  in  telling  anybody  what 
has  passed.  How  handsome  the  fellow  did  look,  though  !  " 

And  Derrick  Howe  went  on  revolving  in  his  mind  all 
that  had  transpired,  and  hugging  himself  with  the  thought, 
"  Luck's  on  your  side  this  time,  old  fellow.  Just  get  that  girl 
away  from  her  family  up  there  at  the  mountains,  and  your 
chance  will  come.  Now  look  out  sharp  for  it." 

And  the  opposition  he  had  met  trebled  the  value  of  the  prize 
in  the  eyes  of  Derrick  Howe. 

At  that  very  moment,  Rusha,  at  home  in  her  chamber,  was 
packing  her  trunks  for  the  day  following,  her  lips  in  an  unbent 
smile  of  sweet  content,  not  dreaming  that  the  skeleton  would 
follow  them  also  to  that  fair  home  that  waited  in  its  still  peace 
for  them  among  God's  everlasting  hills. 


328  DARBYLL    GAP,   OB 


CHAPTEE    XXXV. 

IN  a  morning  of  early  June  the  carryall  which  had  conveyed 
the  Darryll  household  from  Littleton,  where  they  had  passed 
the  night,  drew  up  before  the  front  gate  of  the  cottage.  A 
morning  in  early  June,  "  then,  if  ever,  a  perfect  morning." 

All  the  joy  of  sunshine,  all  the  rarest  beauty  of  sky  and  earth, 
seemed  to  have  formed  a  conjunction  at  this  hour  to  welcome 
them  to  their  new  home.  That  vast  panorama  of  mountain 
grandeur  stood  up  in  all  its  solemn  strength  and  majesty  before 
them,  the  very  temples  and  courts  of  the  Eternal  God.  Pinnacle 
after  pinnacle  rose  serene  and  clear  in  that  June  light,  while  a 
few  mists  clung  in  silver  dimples  down  among  the  ravines  and 
jagged  places  of  the  hills,  or  ran  in  a  fine,  tender  bloom  of  peach 
and  gold  along  the  slopes.  A  sudden  solemnity  came  upon  the 
face  of  each  one  who  tumbled  eagerly  out  of  the  carriage  and 
turned  for  a  first  look.  Each  mountain  stood  there  a  strong, 
vital  personality  ;  and  though  the  Darrylls  had  driven  all  the  way 
out  from  Littleton  in  voluble  merriment,  they  went  all  around 
the  piazzas,  taking  in  one  view  and  then  another  in  a  hush  of 
silence,  so  impressed  with  the  power  and  mystery  of  glory  about 
them  that  words  did  not  come  to  these  people  until  they  had 
gotten  inside  the  house. 

Here  everything  was  in  the  perfection  of  order  to  receive 
them.  Each  article  had  been  bestowed  in  its  appointed  place 
by  thoroughly  trained  domestics,  and  every  room,  in  its  bright 
purity  and  perfect  harmony  of  cool  color,  made  a  picture  in 
itself. 

Then  the  tongues  were  loosened.  They  went  from  room  to 
room  in  a  kind  of  voluble  rapture,  exhausting  their  breaths 
and  their  adjectives  over  each  one ;  for  in  all  respects,  whether 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  329 

in  itself  or  its  royal  panorama  of  landscapes,  the  cottage  utterly 
surpassed  the  limits  of  their  imaginations. 

Rusha  took  the  whole,  as  was  to  be  expected,  somewhat  dif- 
ferently from  any  of  the  others. 

She  went  about  from  angle  to  angle  of  the  upper  and  lower 
piazzas,  feeding  her  entranced  gaze  on  some  new,  rich  surprise 
of  landscape  ;  now  marking  the  winds  toss  the  gray  hairs  of 
mist  across  the  dark  splendor  of  the  forehead  of  Lafayette,  and 
now  steadying  her  glance  on  the  far-off  dome  of  Mount  Wash- 
ington, as  it  stood  towering  alone  over  all  that  power  and 
glory  of  hills. 

Voices  called  her  inside.  "  O,  do  come  and  see  this,  Rusha  !  " 
—  "  Make  haste  and  look  here  ;  "  and  to  each  she  answered, 
"  Yes,  I'm  coming.  I'll  be  there  in  a  moment,"  and  staid  on, 
finding  it  impossible  to  tear  her  enchanted  gaze  away.  At  last 
her  father  came  to  the  door  and  called  her,  and  she  went  in,  her 
face  transfigured  with  a  rapture  nobody  had  ever  seen  there 
before. 

"  O,  pa,"  she  said,  speaking  out  her  first  thought,  "  I  believe 
we've  all  made  a  mistake  and  got  into  heaven  !  " 

Everybody  laughed,  and  Guy  answered,  — 

"  I've  always  heard  '  Jordan  was  a  hard  road  to  travel  ;  ' 
but  I  must  say,  if  this  is  heaven,  we've  got  along  here  by  pretty 
comfortable  stages  !  " 

Everybody  laughed  again,  even  Mrs.  Darryll,  though  she 
tried  to  look  sober,  thinking  Guy's  wit  was  a  little  wicked. 

Then  Rusha  went  about  the  house,  surveying  the  rooms, 
peering  into  every  nook  and  cranny  with  the  others,  enjoying  it 
all,  and  yet  mostly  like  one  in  a  dream,  the  glory  of  the  vision 
outside  calling  to  her  soul  all  the  while. 

They  could  not  hold  her  amongst  them  long.  She  was  out 
on  the  piazzas  again,  her  face  going  in  a  trance  of  silent  rapture, 
from  one  landscape  to  another,  until  the  ecstasy  became  a  real 


could  bear  no  more  ;  she  must  get  away  by  herself  from 
all  human  sight  ;  and  impelled  by  this  longing,  she  darted 

28* 


330  DABRYLL    OAP,   OB 

the  steps  into  a  narrow  lane  on  one  side  of  the  house  ;  'following 
this  for  a  short  distance,  she  struck  into  a  little  wood-path,  which 
led  her  up  into  a  green  thicket  just  on  the  edge  of  the  forest. 
Here,  in  the  cool  darkness,  sweet  fragrances  of  the  woods  clung 
to  the  air,  the  morning  winds  frayed  out  the  edges  of  the  ma- 
ples and  birches  overhead,  making  a  soft  lisp  of  sound  which 
one  would  not  be  likely  to  hear  for  the  singing  of  the  birds  and 
the  dripping  of  water  from  some  small  stream  near  at  hand. 
Rusha  threw  herself  down  here  on  the  grass,  and  sobbed  like  a 
baby  for  the  next  half  hour.  It  seemed  that  her  heart  must 
break  out  of  its  great  burden  of  joy,  if  it  were  not  for  this 
relief  of  tears  ;  and  when,  at  lasf,  she  rose  up  and  turned  home- 
ward, it  was  with  a  heart,  like  her  face,  quieted  and  peaceful  as 
a  little  child's. 

In  the  weeks  that  followed,  the  Darrylls  settled  down  to  their 
new  life  among  the  mountains  —  a  life  in  utter  contrast  with  all 
their  previous  experience.  No  doubt  its  novelty  lent  some  fresh 
charm  to  everything  about  them  ;  but  it  did  seem  as  though  they 
had  left  the  loud,  restless  world  far  behind,  and  were  locked  up 
in  some  enchanted  valley,  whose  gates  were  those  eternal  moun- 
tains which  shut  them  in  on  every  side. 

The  strong  tonics  of  mountain  air  gave  fresh  vigor  to  every 
pulse,  while  the  absolute  seclusion  and  rest  fell  like  balin  upon 
each  tired  sense,  and  went  deeper  than  that  into  every  tired 
soul  that  would  open  its  doors  wide  enough  to  let  the  blessing 
enter  in  and  abide  there. 

The  young  people  lived  mostly  out  of  doors  ;  fairly  bewitched 
with  the  wildness  and  roughness  of  the  region ;  hunting  into 
all  its  recesses,  finding  new  secrets  and  rich  surprises  of  scenery 
with  every  hour  —  now  it  was  a  spring,  with  a  little  trickle  of 
tune  under  some  green  wall  of  thicket,  now  a  blasted  trunk, 
across  which  some  vine  had  flung  its  fiery  scarf  of  wild  bloom  ; 
now  it  was  some  heap  of  rare  mosses  clinging  to  broken  rocks  ; 
and  now  it  was  some  unexpected  nook  or  dell  on  which  they 
would  chance  in  the  woods,  a  very  forest  lyric  of  peace  and 
beauty.  They  would  come  home  every  day,  their  fair  young 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  331 

cheeks  dive  with  fresh  bloom,  bringing  spoils  of  wood  and 
thicket  and  forest,  like  conquerors.  Indeed,  the  little  house 
fairly  rioted  and  ran  over  with  wood  blooms,  and  sprays  of 
vines,  and  wild  berries,  and  clumps  and  tufts  of  forest  growths, 
among  which  were  daintily  hung  birds'  nests,  and  eggs  streaked, 
and  mottled,  and  all  sorts  of  curious  things. 

Guy  was  knight  errant  for  his  sisters,  and  always  carried 
his  gun,  and  was  on  the  lookout  for  the  traditional  bear  of 
that  region,  whose  history  had  as  reliable  a  basis  as  some 
delightful  old  legend  of  mythology.  It  was  a  pleasant  sight  to 
stand  on  the  piazza,  as  Mrs.  Darryll  did  in  the  summer  morn- 
ings, and  see  the  little  party  start  off  on  some  search  for  a  new 
wood-path,  or  some  exploration  into  the  wild  recesses  of  the  for- 
ests—  the  girls  in  their  pretty  sun-hats,  with  long  plumes  that 
fluttered  triumphantly  in  every  breath  of  wind,  the  soft,  crisp 
folds  of  fine-hued  cambric  brushing  away  the  dew  that  still 
sanded  the  grasses  ;  and  the  mother  would  stand  there  on  the 
piazza,  shading  her  pleased  eyes  from  the  sun,  and  watch 
them,  believing  that  in  all  the  world  there  were  no  daughters 
so  fair  or  lovely  as  her  own.  I  suppose,  however,  all  mothers 
think  that. 

Guy  generally  brought  up  the  rear,  well  provided  with 
knives,  and  small  hoes,  and  various-sized  baskets  to  contain  the 
forest  trophies.  He  was  indispensable  on  these  occasions  ;  and 
Guy  was  at  heart  a  "  good  fellow,"  when  the  conceits  and 
smartnesses  of  his  stripling  youth  dropped  off  from  him. 

The  absence  of  his  elder  brothers  seemed  to  have  brought 
to  the  surface  whatever  was  best  in  him  of  manliness  and  self- 
reliance,  and  given  him  some  new  sense  of  responsibility  and 
dignity ;  while  during  his  father's  absences  in  the  city,  the 
duties  of  "  head  of  the  family  "  devolved,  in  some  sense,  upon 
the  youngest  son. 

But  if  those  first  weeks  at  the  mountain  cottage  were  happy 
ones  to  the  collective  Darryll  household,  if  never  a  sigh  or  a 
longing  went  back  to  the  great  city  they  had  left  far  away  with 
all  its  whirr  of  exciting  pleasures,  you  can  think  something  of 


332  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

what  this  life  was  to  the  oldest  daughter.  Her  soul  drank  in  its 
new  freedom  with  a  strange  sense  of  liberty  and  exultation, 
like  that  of  some  bird,  caged  from  its  birth,  which  has  suddenly 
burst  its  bars,  and  found  the  green  woods,  and  its  native  air. 

The  care  or  doubt  which  had  haunted  her  expression  passed 
out  of  it  now,  and  in  its  stead  there  came  an  illumination  of 
child-like  brightness  and  absolute  content,  which  filled  her  face 
with  a  new  beauty. 

Her  family  recognized  this  in  their  homely  fashion  by  re- 
marking, — 

"  Rusha,  you've  been  growing  good-looking  every  day  since 
we  came  to  the  mountains  —  that's  a  fact !  " 

And  those  mountains  were  a  perpetual  feast  to  the  long-fast- 
ing soul  of  Rusha  Darryll.  In  that  grand  vestibule  of  majesty 
and  beauty  in  which  their  home  was  planted,  she  could  lift  her 
eyes  on  every  side  to  the  mighty  temples  which  her  Father  had 
built,  and  worship  Him  with  a  new  love  and  joy.  Her  eyes 
had  the  anointing  which  the  others  had  not,  and  could  "  see 
beyond  the  land  into  the  landscape." 

The  mountains  and  the  girl  knew  each  other.  She  grew  into 
a  loving  intimacy  with  all  their  moods.  When  the  swift  wing 
of  the  tempest  swept  in  awful  darkness  along  the  crags  — 
when  the  vast  seas  of  vapor*  moved  down  and  gathered  in  the 
hills,  until  their  pinnacles  loomed  up  fair  and  spectral,  like  the 
turrets  and  spires  of  some  city  in  the  heavens  —  when  the 
mists  hung  in  play  their  silver  fleeces  along  the  slopes,  and, 
touched  with  sunlight,  flickered  into  a  foam  of  fine  gold  —  when 
the  noontide  glory  hung  upon  the  hills,  or  sunrise  and  sunset 
poured  their  fiery  splendors  upon  every  cliflf,  —  the  soul  of  Rusha 
Darryll  watched  and  waited,  and  received  its  blessing. 

And  though  her  rambles  with  her  sisters  were  many,  she  had 
more  by  herself.  She  would  plunge  off  into  the  silent  woods, 
and,  in  some  cool  depth  of  shade  and  savage  wildness,  throw 
herself  down  on  a  mat  of  mottled  gray  and  green  mosses,  and 
read  and  dream  away  the  hours.  Sometimes  her  book  would 
be  a  volume  of  Ruskin,  transmuting  all  the  world  into  a  new 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  333 

mystery  and  harmony  of  light  and  grace  and  color.  Some- 
times she  would  lose  herself  among  Starr  King's  "  White  Hills," 
until  the  very  pages  seemed  to  heave  and  glow  under  her  with 
the  forms  and  splendors  of  mountain  and  cataract.  And  some- 
times —  oftenest,  perhaps  —  the  reading  would  be  fragmentary 
enough  —  passages  here  and  there  of  her  favorite  poems  —  pas- 
sages that  held  in  them  some  immortal  essence  of  truth  and 
beauty,  while  she  read  alternately  from  the  two  volumes  opened 
before  her,  and  each  interpreted  the  other  to  her  soul ;  and  she 
found  that  the  volume  of  man  and  the  volume  of  nature  had 
alike  their  end  and  best  meaning  in  God. 

Yet  the  rumors  from  the  world  outside,  which  reached  the 
Darrylls  in  their  happy  sequestration,  were  painful  enough. 
We  all  know  what  a  miserable  summer  was  that  latest  one  of 
the  war  —  men's  hearts  everywhere  failing  them  for  dread. 
The  terrible  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  which  shook  all  our 
homes,  while  the  birds  sang  in  the  sprouting  May  boughs,  had 
come  and  passed,  dropping  its  shadow  of  death  upon  many  a 
threshold  ;  and  still  Richmond  stood,  bristling  and  defiant,  be- 
fore the  armies  of  Grant. 

Then  followed  that  terrible  drought  which  drank  up  the 
springs,  and  the  earth  lay  panting  and  shrivelled  under  the  fierce 
heats,  until  famine  loomed  up  in  the  distance,  gaunt  and  awful, 
following  on  the  heels  of  war. 

Of  course  the  Darrylls  had  their  days  and  nights  of 
agonizing  suspense,  when  the  Union  armies  were  knocking 
vainly  at  the  gates  of  Richmond,  amid  that  awful  hail  of  death 
which  brought  low  so  much  of  the  land's  brave  young  life. 

But  Tom  Darryll  had  escaped,  though  he  had  been  in  the 
thickest  of  the  battle,  and  came  out  — to  use  his  own  words  to 
Rusha  — "  without  a  singed  hair,  but  not  the  same  man  that 
he  went  in.  He  could  never  be  that  again." 

Letters  went  back  and  forth  constantly  betwixt  the  brother 
and  sister.     How  strange  it  seemed  to  Tom  to  read  down  there, 
amidst  all  that  din  and  havoc  of  war,  about  the  blissful  quiet 
the  home  among  the  silent  New  Hampshire  hills !     He  entered 


334  DAERYLL   GAP,   OR 

into  every  detail  with  the  greatest  eagerness,  and  seemed  to 
find  almost  as  much  delight  in  the  dear  little  "  mountain  nest," 
as  he  called  it,  as  any  of  the  rest. 

Early  in  July,  when  the  tide  of  fashionable  travel  set  stronger 
than  ever  towards  the  White  Hills,  Ella  learned  that  a  party  of 
her  city  friends  were  passing  a  week  at  the  Crawford,  and  were 
importunate  that  she  should  join  them  at  the  hotel. 

The  old  instincts  resumed  their  sway,  making  this  a  tempta- 
tion which  the  girl  could  not  resist ;  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  as  the 
novelty  wore  off,  their  seclusion  and  quiet  had  become  a  little 
monotonous  to  Ella,  and  she  hailed  the  prospect  of  a  brief 
return  to  her  old  life.  It  is  true,  as  she  was  packing  her  finery 
for  the  trip,  a  thought  of  Derrick  Howe  flashed  across  her,  and 
the  not  very  remote  probability  of  their  meeting  at  the  hotel. 

To  do  her  justice,  she  had  scarcely  thought  of  him  since  their 
parting.  "  If  he  should  turn  up,"  mused  Ella,  "  how  provok- 
ing it  would  be  !  But  I  can't  bury  myself  up  here  all  summer 
because  of  that  possibility,  and  in  case  I  should  come  across  the 
fellow,  there's  nothing  left  to  do  but  to  keep  him  at  a  proper 
distance." 

But  Ella  did  not  consider  that  the  signal  manner  in  which 
she  had  failed  in  this  already,  afforded  small  hope  of 'her  being 
able  to  do  it  in  circumstances  where  Derrick  Howe  would  have 
everything  so  greatly  to  his  own  advantage.  So  she  sprang 
lightly  into  the  carriage  that  afternoon,  for  Guy  was  to  drive 
her  over  to  the  hotel,  and  she  rode  away  by  his  side  smiling  and 
confident,  not  dreaming  that  she  was  going  to  meet  her  fate. 

And  that  afternoon  Rusha  sat  at  the  window  and  looked  out 
ou  Mount  Lafayette,  its  top  swathed  in  a  cloud  of  radiant 
vapors,  while  "  beneath,  it  stood  out  sharp  and  clear,  full  of 
strength,  passion,  and  expression." 

A  soft  light  filled  the  eyes  of  the  girl  as  she  gazed.  "  Maybe 
I've  thought  too  hardly  of  it,"  she  murmured,  forgetting  her- 
self in  voluble  thought,  as  was  somewhat  her  habit  when  alone. 
"  It's  a  beautiful  world,  after  all.  I  didn't  suppose  anybody 
could  be  so  happy  in  it  as  I've  been  for  the  last  month ! " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  335 

Then  her  thoughts  went  to  Tom.  "  O,  iny  brave  young 
knight,"  with  a  quiver  of  joy  and  tenderness  all  through  her 
words,  "  how  nohly  you  buckled  on  your  armor  and  went  out 
to  the  battle,  which  in  some  shape  is  appointed  to  us  all, 
whether  we  be  men  or  women  !  But  O,  Tom,  Tom,  my  heart 
is  sick  to  see  you  !  If  you  were  only  here  now,  the  measure 
would  be  full,  and  I  could  only  say,  '  Dear  God,  it  is  enough. 
Give  me  no  more,  lest  I  die  ! ' ' 

"  Should  you  indeed  say  that,  Eusha?"  asked  a  voice  at  the 
door  behind  her. 

She  turned  around  with  a  little  smothered  cry,  and  there 
stood  Tom,  in  his  "  army  blue,"  smiling,  in  the  doorway  I 


336  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

TOM'S  brief  furlough  allowed  him  only  five  days  at  home ; 
but  what  cannot  be  lived  in  five  days?  Whatever  lost  oppor- 
tunities the  Darrylls  might  have  to  regret,  they  certainly  could 
never  reproach  themselves  for  not  making  the  most  of  the  pres- 
ent time.  Tom,  of  course,  was  the  hero  of  the  occasion ;  and 
Rusha  and  he  were  inseparable,  though  they  had  little  oppor- 
tunity for  their  old  and  intimate  talks,  for  whatever  locality  the 
young  soldier  happened  transiently  to  occupy,  that  was  sure  to 
be  the  point  of  concentration  for  his  whole  family. 

He  was  looking  finely.  That  hard,  out-door  life  down  there 
on  the  Potomac  had  bronzed  his  cheek  and  broadened  his  shoul- 
ders, and  given  to  face  and  bearing  a  new  vigor  and  manliness. 
He  had  crossed  the  Rapidan  with  Grant  in  those  pleasant  May 
days,  and  been  through  that  awful  storm  of  fire  and  death  which 
followed,  and  which,  though  it  had  spared  him,  not  so  much  as 
singeing  his  garments,  had  yet  made  him  feel,  when  he  came 
out  of  it,  as  though  he  had  left  all  his  youth  behind.  Certainly 
each  one  of  those  lurid  days  and  nights  had  burned  away  some 
dross  from  his  soul ;  but  out  of  their  fires  would  come  a  steadier 
and  stronger  fibred  manhood. 

They  used  to  sit  far  into  the  night  listening  to  his  stories  with 
a  shuddering  eagerness,  and  wondering  they  had  him  back 
among  them  alive  and  well.  "  As  for  sleep,"  Rusha,  who  had 
a  family  reputation  for  wakefulness,  averred,  "  that  could  afford 
to  wait.  They'd  nothing  in  the  world  to  do  but  make  up  losses 
on  that  side  when  Tom  was  gone." 

Then,  of  course,  there  was  all  the  ground  to  explore,  for  Tom 
must  not  let  a  single  fine  point  go  unvisited.  Fortunately,  the 
best  views  were  within  easy  riding  or  walking  distances,  and  the 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  337 

young  officer  was  as  eager  to  go  as  Guy  and  the  girls  were  to 
be  his  pioneers. 

He  was  as  charmed  with  the  mountain  retreat  as  it  was  pos- 
sible to  be,  and  drank  in  all  its  delights  and  marvels  of  landscape 
with  a  spirit  which  satisfied  even  Rusha. 

"  Isn't  this  better  than  Saratoga,  Tom?  "  she  said  to  him  one 
day,  coming  out  and  taking  his  arm  as  he  was  pacing  up  and 
down  the  veranda  for  a  few  moments  alone. 

"  Better !  "  He  lifted  up  his  face  to  the  hills,  whose  fore- 
heads were  covered  by  purple  gauzes  of  mist,  shaking  back  and 
forth  in  the  soft  afternoon  wind.  "  The  mountains  answer 
more  eloquently  than  I." 

She  clasped  her  other  hand  upon  his  arm,  and  looked  up  into 
his  face  with  her  sweetest  smile. 

"  It  was  all  my  doings  — :  their  coming  up  here.  t  You  see  I 
like  to  take  the  credit  to  myself." 

"  Do  you  s'pose  I  shouldn't  have  known,  whether  you  did  so 
or  not,  that  it  all  originated  with  you  ?  I  wonder,  dear  girl,  if 
anything  good  or  beautiful  ever  happened  to  us  that  you  didn't 
manage  to  be  at  the  bottom  of  it  all !  " 

Her  face,  in  a  quiver  of  delight  and  fondness,  looked  up  to  his. 

"  O,  Tom,  Tom  !  "  She  could  not  get  any  farther  just  then, 
leaning  her  head  against  his  shoulder,  and  for  a  little  while  they 
continued  their  walk  in  silence  around  the  veranda. 

She  cleared  her  voice  to  speak  at  last  —  "After  you  were 
gone  away,  I  remembered,  Tom,  — and  the  memory  cost  me  a 
good  many  sharp  pangs,  —  that  I'd  been  impatient  and  fretful,  and 
said  things  to  you  I  ought  not,  more  than  once.  It  seemed  to 
me  I  could  never  forgive  myself  for  it  then." 

"  Don't  you  fret  that  dear,  little,  sensitive  soul  of  yours  over 
it  again  as  long  as  you  live."  Tom  had  grown  affectionate, 
in  speech  at  least,  since  he  went  to  the  war.  *"  Mind  what  I 
say,  now.  You've  never  been  anything  but  the  greatest  comfort 
and  blessing  to  me  in  the  world." 

Her  face,  looking  up,  thanked  him  again  with  such  thanks  as 
few  faces  have  in  this  world. 
29 


338  DASRYLL    GAP,    OS 

Then  Tom  drew  out  of  his  bosom  the  small  Bible,  a  good  deal 
faded  with  use,  and  held  it  up  before  her. 

"  It  went  through  all  the  fights  with  me  !  "  he  said. 

"  Did  you  find  time  to  do  what  I  asked? " 

"  Every  day ;  and  I  found,"  dropping  his  voice,  a  slrange 
solemnity  creeping  over  his  young  face,  "  that  what  you  said 
was  true  about  the  strength  and  comfort.  Sometimes  in  those 
awful  days,  when  a  fellow  couldn't  see  for  the  thick  storm  of 
shells  whizzing  round  him,  and  the  men  were  dropping  dead 
every  minute  where  they  stood,  and  the  next  breath  his  turn 
might  come,  some  of  the  words  in  here  would  come  back  to  me 
and  cling  to  my  thoughts,  and  I'd  find  it  was  as  you  said,  there 
was  some  life  in  them  that  it  took  the  hot  breath  of  the  battle  to 
kindle.  I  tell  you  it  makes  a  fellow  think,  to  stand  next  door  to 
another  world,  if  he  never  did  before." 

"  O,  Tom,  how  can  I  ever  thank  God  enough  for  sparing 
you  to  me  —  to  us  all !  " 

"  I  s'pose  the  best  way  to  thank  Him,  after  all,  is  to  serve  Him 
—  to  please  Him,"  he  answered. 

What  a  great  leap  that  was — what  a  school  the  battle-field 
had  been  for  his  soul,  as  it  has  for  the  souls  of  so  many  of  our 
young  men  during  the  past  year —  so  many  in  this  world  or  the 
next ! 

"That's  the  only  way,  and  we  must  all  find  it  out  for  our- 
selves." Then  in  a  moment  —  "  Were  you  much  afraid,  Tom  ?  " 
a  woman's  question  always. 

"  Well,  you  see,  a  fellow  's  completely  carried  out  of  himself* 
A  hot  excitement  gets  possession  of  him,  and  he  only  knows 
that  he's  got  to  turn  in  and  fight,  come  life  or  death.  He  can't 
feel  much  beyond  that,  not  even  when  a  man  stands  at  his  side 
one  moment  and  drops  dead  the  next,  and  he  himself  is  likely 
to  be  in  another  world  with  a  breath  more.  But  in  the  marches, 
and  before  the  battle  began,  I  had  time  to  think,  and  to  feel,  too  ; 
and  life  seemed  a  very  small  thing  just  then,  beyond  what  use  a 
fellow  made  of  it  to  serve  him  in  his  dying  hour.  I  hadn't  got 
the  sort  of  record  I'd  have  liked  by  a  long  ways,  and  it  didn't 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  339 

make  me  feel  any  more  comfortable  to  look  back  ;  and  then 

yon  know  a  man  can't  say  much  about  these  things  — some  of 
those  passages  I  read  in  here  came  back  to  me,  as  though  God's 
voice  had  spoken  them  directly  to  my  soul.  I  went  into  the 
battle  on  their  strength  and  comfort,  and  if  I'd  never  come  out 
of  it,  I  think  I  should  have  gone  into  the  other  world  on  some 
hope  and  rest  I'd  found  inside  of  this  ! "  laying  his  other  hand 
over  the  book. 

"  O,  Tom,  I  am  so  glad  —  so  glad  !  "  her  eyes  swimming  in 
tears,  her  whole  face  alive  with  a  tremulous  gladness  which  told 
how  deep  Tom's  words  had  gone. 

At  that  moment  Agnes  came  out  on  the  veranda  —  "  You're 
not  going  to  be  Rusha's  special  property  this  time,  you  needn't 
flatter  yourself!"  with  a  laugh.  "Some  other  folks  have 
rights,  too." 

"  Take  some  of  them  now,  then,"  offering  her  his  other  arm  ; 
and  they  continued  their  walk. 

"  I  tell  you  now,  it's  pleasant,"  said  Tom,  "  for  a  fellow  to 
have  such  a  good-looking  girl  on  each  side  of  him,  and  nothing 
to  do  but  to  take  his  ease.  He'll  never  appreciate  it,  though, 
until  he's  had  a  little  of  just  such  peppering  and  salting  as  I've 
undergone  for  the  last  six  months." 

"  O,"  said  Agnes,  suddenly,  "  it's  almost  time  for  Guy  to  be 
back  with  Ella.  He  only  rode  over  to  intercept  the  stage. 
Suppose  we  go  down  and  meet  them?" 

Her  proposition  was  acted  on  without  delay.  They  sauntered 
down  the  road,  waiting  only  to  get  their  fiats,  and  were  reward- 
ed by  a  sight  of  the  carryall  before  they  had  proceeded  half  a 
mile  from  the  house.  A  waving  of  handkerchiefs  and  hats  at 
once  saluted  it,  but  as  it  drew  nearer  it  proved  to  have  only  a 
solitary^  occupant. 

The  surprise  and  disappointment  were  audible  enough,  es- 
pecially on  the  girls'  part,  and  Guy  was  assailed  when  he  drove 
up  to  them,  as  though  he  was  responsible  for  not  bringing  his 
sister. 

He  was   quite   equal  to  his  own  defence,  however,  which 


340  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

amounted  to  just  this  — Ella  was  not  in  the  stage,  neither  was 
there  any  message  from  her. 

"  It  is  too  provoking,"  said  Agnes,  with  her  girlish  impetuos- 
ity ;  "  and  she  won't  get  here  until  to-morrow  now,  and  then 
have  only  two  days  more  for  Tom." 

"  She  couldn't  have  got  your  telegram,  Guy,"  said  the  young 
officer  rather  inclined  to  solve  difficulties  than  to  waste  time  in 
lamentations  over  them. 

"  That's  it,  you  may  depend ;  and  yet  I  can't  see  how  it's 
happened.  I  telegraphed  from  Littleton  yesterday  morning,  and 
it  don't  seem  as  though  there  could  have  been  any  mistake  in 
the  thing.  We  must  try  it  again  ;  that's  all.  Rufus  will  drive  in 
town  to-morrow  morning  —  "  commenced  Guy. 

"  We  won't  trust  to  telegrams  at  all  in  a  case  like  this,"  inter- 
posed Rusha.  "  We'll  just  send  Rufus  over  to  the  Crawford  to- 
morrow. But  then  I  can't  help  thinking  how  sorry  Ella  will 
be  when  she  comes  to  find  these  lost  three  days  of  your  visit, 
Tom." 

Tom  was  sorry,  too.  Ella  was  his  sister,  and  because  of 
that  he  loved  her  dearly  ;  indeed,  his  brief  army  life  had  afforded 
him  same  new  knowledge  of  his  own  capacities  in  family 
affection. 

Still  the  loss  and  disappointment  would  have  been  a  far  dif- 
ferent thing  if  Rusha,  instead  of  her  sister,  had  been  absent  at 
this  time  ;  and  only  then,  perhaps,  could  Tom  have  realized  how 
much  of  the  blessedness  of  this  coming  home  he  owed  to  this 
sister  of  his. 

No  love  or  longing,  however,  could  hold  back  those  long, 
golden  days  of  midsummer,  gladly  as  each  would  have  detained 
them.  Mr.  Darryll  arrived  on  the  following  day  ;  so  that,  with 
Ella%  the  family  circle  would  have  been  as  complete  as  possible. 

Rufus  did  not  make  the  journey  from  Littleton  in  his  usual 
good  time  ;  hence  the  family  resolved  themselves  into  a  commit- 
tee, in  order  to  decide  whether  he  had  better  ride  over  to  the 
Crawford  House  and  bring  Ella  back  that  night.  But  more 
than  half  Tom's  furlough  was  now  expired.  She  had  not 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

arrived,  as  had  been  hoped,  in  that  day's  stage,  and  her  absence 
was  now  laid  solely  to  the  charge  of  the  telegraph,  which  was 
anathematized  by  the  family  in  general. 

The  domestic  conclave  resulted  in  the  despatch  of  Rufus  for 
the  Crawford  a  little  before  sundown.  The  ride  of  twenty-four 
miles,  which  included  the  journey  both  ways,  must  occupy  at 
least  five  hours. 

Rufus  accomplished  the  trip  in  this  time,  but  returned  without 
Ella.  She  had  that  morning  ascended  Mount  Washington  with 
a  party  of  friends,  and  the  whole  company  had,  while  at  the 
Summit  House,  taken  a  fancy  to  descend  on  the  other  side  and 
pass  the  day  at  the  Glen ;  so  they  could  not  possibly  return 
before  the  next  evening. 

O 

Rufus  could  not  make  certain  about  the  telegram.  There 
was  a  vague  impression  that  one  of  the  nature  he  described  had 
been  transmitted  ;  and  if  so,  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  young 
lady  had  received  it. 

At  all  events,  to  clinch  the  matter  this  time,  Rufus  had  tele- 
graphed both  to  the  Summit  House  and  to  the  Glen,  and  there 
was  no  help  for  it.  Ella's  part  in  Tom's  furlough  must  now  be 
limited  to  a  single  day. 

In  the  midst  of  the  disappointment,  each  fell  back  on  the  old 
solution  —  the  telegram,  through  some  inadvertency,  had  failed 
to  reach  the  girl. 

That  last  day  of  Tom's  furlough  went  as  though  its  hours 
were  hurried  off  by  some  remorseless  fate.  Everybody  of 
course  gravitated  to  his  orbit,  letting  all  other  interests  wait 
on  him. 

The  evening  came,  and  again  the  stage  did  not  bring  Ella. 
Once  -more  the  carryall  was  despatched  in  all  haste  to  the  Craw- 
ford House.  The  party  had  not  yet  returned,  and  it  appeared 
that  they  must  have  altered  their  plans,  as  the  telegram  to  Ella 
had  been  answered  at  the  Glen,  with  the  information  that  no 
such  party  were  stopping  at  the  hotel. 

Perplexity  and  disappointment  took  about  equal  possession  of 
the  Darrylls.     Ella's  last  chance  for  seeing  Tom  was  gone  now, 
29* 


342  DAEEYLL    GAP,    OS 

and  the  possibility  of  its  being  a  last  chance,  in  the  profoundest 
and  deepest  sense,  could  not  but  flash  across  all  their  thoughts, 
and  then  be  dismissed  with  a  shudder.  The  father  was  irritated, 
and  that  always  made  him  unreasonable.  His  blame  must  fall 
on  something  more  sent.ient  than  telegraph  wires  this  time. 

"  Tljat  girl  never  knows  what  she's  about  when  she  gets  off 
on  a  frolic  with  her  fashionable  friends.  Of  course  there'd  be 
no  telling  where  to  find  her,  or  what  she  was  about.  Pretty  scrape 
this  !  You  ought  to  have  had  more  sense  than  to  let  her  go," 
turning  upon  his  wife,  as  though  it  was  the  easiest  matter  iu  the 
world  for  that  pliant  mother  to  dominate  her  grown-up  daughters. 

"  Now,  pa,  don't  be  hard  on  anybody,"  put  in  Rusha,  who 
was  walking  up  and  down  the  room.  "  I'm  sure  it  will  be  bad 
enough  for  the  poor  child  when  she  comes  home  and  finds  what 
she's  lost,  without  our  adding  reproaches  for  what  she  couldn't 
help." 

"Yes,"  subjoined  Tom,  feeling  that  the  circumstances  would 
give  his  request  a  weight,  just  now,  that  it  would  not  have  at 
any  other  time,  "  don't  blame  Ella  when  she  gets  back.  Tell  her, 
next  time  she  won't  get  rid  of  me  so  easily.  When  beaus  are  round, 
brothers  are  always  a  nuisance,"  turning  oif  whatever  disap- 
pointment he  might  feel  with  a  jest..  "  Come  here  to  the  win- 
dow, Rusha,  and  see  the  effect  of  the  moonlight  on  that  bank  of 
mist  up  there  in  the  hollow  of  the  mountain." 

Of  course  she  went.  "  How  beautiful  it  is  !  "  she  murmured. 
"  Soft  and  glistening  as  the  white  veil  of  a  bride  ;  and  a  little 
farther  up,  on  that  jutting  crag,  the  vapor  lies,  a  heap  of  orange 
blossoms  to  complete  the  figure.  Don't  you  see  them  ?  " 

"  Yes,  with  a  long  pull  of  my  imagination  !  "  laughed  Tom. 
Then  Rusha  grew  grave  again.  "  O,  Tom,  before  that  moon 
has  waxed  and  waned,  where  will  it  find  you  ?  " 

"  Down  there  in  camp,  I  suppose,  watching  the  long  rows  of 
tents  that  have  a  wonderfully  picturesque  effect  in  moonlight, 
and  remind  me  of  nothing  in  the  world  but  siiovr-drifts  piled  on 
midsummer  grass.  It  will  find  me,  too,  thiukingof  you  all  here 
at  home,  and  fancying  just  what  you  are  about.  What  a  com- 


Ill 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  343 

fort  it  is  that  I  shall  be  able  to  locate  you  all  now to  sec 

my  fancy  the  rooms,  and  the  verandas  where  you  are  sittino 
and  walking,  as  I  never  could  have  seen  them  even  through 
your  letters.  Our  little  cottage  will  cling  to  me  everywhere 
now." 

Her  eyes  smiled  upon  him  with  their  sweetest  fondness. 
Then  in  a  moment  he  went  over  and  threw  himself  down  on  an 
ottoman  at  his  mother's  feet,  and  laid  his  head  iu  her  lap. 

"You  must  spoil  me  for  this  one  night,  just  as  you  used  to 
•when  I  was  a  little  shaver." 

She  was  ready  enough  to  do  it,  smoothing  the  thick  brown 
hair  with  her  hand,  while  the  family  gathered  around  in  its 
softest  mood,  as  the  shadow  of  parting,  hanging  over  loving 
hearts  always  brings  to  the  surface  their  finest  and  deepest 
feelings. 

They  had  all  realized  in  this  visit  of  Tom  a  new  gentle- 
ness and  thoughtfulness  that  seemed  to  twine  their  graceful 
wreaths  about  some  column  of  strength  in  his  character. 

"  I  declare  he  seems  to  grow  beautiful  every  hour ! "  said 
Agnes  to  Rusha,  as  the  sisters  retired  late  that  night.  Cer- 
tainly he  grew  dearer  to  them  every  hour. 

The  parting  came  early  next  morning,  for  Tom  must  be  in 
time  for  the  train  at  Littleton.  The  wrench,  however,  was  not 
so  hard  as  the  previous  one.  We  get  used  to  almost  everything 
in  life ;  and  then  Tom  had  really  been  to  the  war,  and  como 
back  sounder  and  heartier  in  every  respect  than  he  went. 

They  could  not  think  that  it  might  be  otherwise  a  second 
time.  Then  his  hopefulness  infected  them  all.  Tom  fervently 
believed  that  Grant  would  be  in  Richmond  before  the  full  elec- 
tion, which  was  then  filling  all  men's  minds.  You  could  not 
listen  to  the  high,  confident  hopes  of  his  young  soul,  without  iu 
some  degree  catching  his  spirit. 

There  had  been  some  talk  of  accompanying  the  gentlemen  as 
far  as  Littleton,  Mr.  Darryll  returning  to  New  York  with  his 
son.  But  Rusha  vetoed  all  that.  She  could  not  bear  to  have 
their  leave-taking  transpire  in  the  midst  of  a  curious  crowd. 


344  DARRYLL    GAP,   OB 

So  they  went  no  farther  than  the  gate,  and  took  their  cling- 
ing farewells  with  only  God's  solemn  mountains  looking  down 
on  them. 

They  watched  him  as  long  as  they  could,  his  face  turned  back 
and  smiling  on  them  ;  and  so  it  passed,  in  the  pleasant  summer 
morning,  smiling  out  of  their  sight. 

It  seemed  a  dreadfully  barren  house  to  which  they  turned 
back  ;  but  Rusha  said,  with  a  smile  which  her  lips  held  through 
a  little  treachery  of  voice,  "  Now  we're  not  going  to  give  it  up, 
and  carry  long  faces  all  day,  because  Tom's  gone.  I  think  that 
would  be  ungrateful  to  God,  who  has  given  him  back  to  us  safe 
and  sound  for  such  a  precious  surprise  and  delight  as  this  visit 
has  been  to  us  all." 

Her  words  had  their  effect,  and  I  think  those  who  watched 
wisely  would  have  found  that,  more  and  more,  God  was  in  the 
thought  and  life  of  Rusha  Darryll. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

THERE  was  but  one  man  in  the  world  who  could  have  fully 
explained  the  mystery  of  Ella's  absence  and  silence  all  this 
time,  and  that  man  was  Derrick  Howe. 

He  had  come  to  the  mountains,  this  summer,  resolved,  to  use 
his  own  figure,  on  playing  a  desperate  game  —  if  he  won  the 
cards,  the  prize  would  be  a  heavy  one,  and  he  was  not  likely 
to  be  punctilious  about  the  means,  when  an  end  he  so  greatly 
desired  was  in  view. 

Yet  you  must  not  think  that  Derrick  Howe  was  consciously 
a  villain.  He  honestly  believed  himself  a  good  fellow  —  better, 
in  fact,  than  the  most  of  men.  In  his  relations  with  Ella  Dar- 
ryll  he  certainly  regarded  himself  as  the  aggrieved  party,  and 
he  believed  that  he  had  just  as  good  a  right  to  the  hand  and 
fortune  of  that  girl  as  any  other  man.  That  any  of  her  family 
should  oppose  his  suit  appeared  simply  in  the  light  of  a  mon. 
strous  injustice  to  himself —  one  which  it  was  his  right  by  any 
means  in  his  power  to  circumvent. 

With  this  purpose,  as'  I  said,  he  had  come  to  the  mountains 
with  a  large  party,  among  which  were  several  of  Ella's  friends. 
They  did  not  know  it,  but  he  was  really  at  the  bottom  of  the 
invitation  which  brought  Ella  to  the  Crawford  House,  where 
she  was  received  with  voluble  rapture  by  a  company  of  dashing 
girls,  who  thought  they  greatly  honored  the  mountains  by  air- 
ing their  graces  and  importing  here  their  city  manners. 

In  order  to  forestall  all  emergencies,  Derrick  Howe  had  pre- 
vailed upon  the  young  ladies  of  his  set  to  keep  his  presence, 
with  several  other  gentlemen  of  the  parly,  a  profound  secret. 
The  girls  readily  entered  into  the  joke,  and  he  persuaded  the 
young  men  to  go  off  with  him  on  an  expedition  into  the  woods, 


346  DASEYLL   GAP,   OB 

the  real  object  of  all  this  precaution  being  to  keep  the  entire 
Darryll  family  in  ignorance  of  Mr.  Howe's  whereabouts,  as  he 
had  foreseen  the  strong  probability  of  some  of  its  members 
accompanying  Ella  to  the  Crawford.  His  plan  succeeded  admi- 
rably. Guy  would  have  encountered  Derrick  Howe  without  a 
suspicion  of  any  sort,  he  having,  at  the  most,  only  a  vague  sort 
of  an  impression  that  the  young  gentleman  was  "  one  of  the 
strings  of  Ella's  bow  that  the  governor  was  down  on  ;  "  but  he 
would  have  been  certain  to  mention  his  name  among  the  party 
at  the  Crawford,  and  "  the  train  would  have  been  fired  at  once," 
to  borrow  Derrick  Howe's  rhetoric  again.  But  Guy  rode  home, 
after  his  dinner  at  the  Crawford,  in  blissful  ignorance,  carrying 
no  tidings  to  the  elder  sister,  that  could  arouse  her  out  of  the 
sweet  security  into  which  the  mountains  had  lulled  her  thought 
and  feeling. 

Derrick  Howe  did  not  discover  himself  to  Ella  Darryll  until 
he  had  ascertained  that  the  field  was  quite  clear.  The  girl  was 
utterly  confounded  when  that  gentleman  walked  into  the  parlor 
with  his  friends,  and  greeted  her  in  his  most  cordial  manner, 
while  the  young  ladies  who  were  in  the  secret,  grouped  them- 
selves in  a  picturesque  tableau  around  her,  to  enjoy  a  surprise 
which  they  fancied  must  be  of  a  most  agreeable  character. 

But  it  seemed  as  though,  at  that  moment,  some  good  angel 
must  have  rung  a  warning  in  Ella  Darryll's  soul,  for  the  girl 
actually  shivered  and  turned  pale,  acknowledged  Derrick  Howe's 
greeting  with  a  chilling  bow,  and  in  a  few  moments  made  her 
escape  to  her  chamber  with  the  young  lady  who  shared  the 
apartment  with  her. 

"I  wish  I  had  never  come  here  !  I  really  must  go  home  to- 
morrow morning  !  "  she  exclaimed,  passionately,  throwing  her- 
self down  on  the  bed. 

Her  companion  was  quite  appalled  at  this  announcement,  and 
Ella  felt  she  had  now  gone  too  far  to  retreat,  and,  in  her  per- 
plexity, she  needed  some  confidante,  into  whose  sympathizing 
ear  she  could  pour  the  tale  of  her  griefs.  So,  under  a  promise 
of  inviolable  secrecy,  she  told  her  story,  which  was  truthful  in 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  347 

so  far  that  the  speaker  had  no  idea  that  it  was  not  a  faithful 
mirror  of  facts. 

How  far  it  was  intrinsically  so,  could,  perhaps,  be  best  ascer- 
tained from  the  impression  which  it  made  on  the  listener,  though 
something  must  be  allowed  for  her  predilections  in  favor  of 
Derrick  Howe. 

The  girl  received  a  general  impression  that  the  Darryll  fam- 
ily, individually  and  collectively,  had  conceived  an  absolute 
and  altogether  unreasonable  aversion  towards  Mr.  Howe  — 
that  the  bare  suggestion  of  his  name  was  a  signal  for  the  most 
violent  domestic  explosion  —  that  Ella  had  undergone  much 
persecution  on  account  of  a  variety  of  harmless  attentions  from 
that  irresistible  young  gentleman  ;  and  while  she  acknowledged 
his  graces  of  mind  and  manner,  his  presence  filled  her  with  an 
indefinable  terror  and  dread  ;  and  that,  moreover,  she  had  been 
compelled,  for  fear  of  her  father  and  sister,  to  enter  into  bonds 
to  keep  the  family  peace  by  avoiding  Derrick  Howe  as  though 
his  very  presence  carried  with  it  some  blasting  moral  plague. 

Whether  this  was,  or  was  not,  exactly  the  impression  which 
Ella  intended  to  convey,  as  she  went  over  the  story  in  a  breath- 
less, excited  manner,  this  was  the  general  idea  which  her  friend 
received. 

Ella  finished  by  bursting  into  tears.  She  really  felt  fright- 
ened at  the  thought  of  being  under  the  same  roof  with  Derrick 
Howe.  She  remembered  his  words  on  their  last  meeting  in 
New  York,  and  had  a  conviction  that  he  had  come  to  the  moun- 
tains solely  on  her  account.  She  remembered  her  promise  to 
llusha,  and  her  conscience  convicted  her  of  breaking  it.  She 
could  not  easily  have  analyzed  her  own  feelings,  but  she  had  a 
vague  fear  of  something  connected  with  Derrick  Howe  —  she 
could  not  tell  what. 

Her  companion,  a  well-meaning  girl  enough,  acted  her  part 
as  sympathizer  and  counsellor,  in  accordance  with  the  hasty 
conclusions  to  which  she  had  jumped.  She  insisted  that  Ella's 
return  would  reduce  the  whole  party  to  a  state  of  indescribable 
misery,  and  besought  her,  in  pity  to  her  friends,  to  spare  them 


348  DARRTLL    GAP,   OR 

such  an  infliction.  She  treated  the  Darryll  prejudice  regarding 
Derrick  Howe  as  one  of  those  unaccountable  delusions  to  which 
the  paternal  and  maternal  rnind  have  had  an  inherent  proclivity 
from  time  immemorial. 

She  was  eloquent  in  the  praises  of  that  victim  of  the  fatal 
blindness  of  others  —  she  sympathized,  after  the  fashion  of  a 
romantic  young  girl,  with  the  sufferings  which  Ella  had  under- 
gone from  family  tyranny,  but  agreed  that  a  promise,  which 
amounted  to  a  vow,  could  only  be  adhered  to  by  an  absolute 
avoidance  of  Derrick  Howe  on  all  occasions  ;  indeed,  Ella  her- 
self made  so  strong  a  point  of  this,  that  she  could  not  be  induced 
to  dress  for  supper,  until  her  companion  had  satisfied  her  that 
she  should  be  established  betwixt  her  brother  and  her  friend, 
and  that  it  would  be  the  easiest  matter  in  the  world  for  Ella  to 
keep  the  young  man  at  the  utmost  limit  of  social  recognition. 

So  Ella  went  down  that  night  in  her  own  strength,  primed 
with  a  determination  never  to  give  Derrick  Howe  the  slightest 
favor,  or  accept  a  courtesy  of  any  sort  from  him.  He  did  not 
invade  her  sphere.  The  truth  was,  he  had  been  a  good  deal 
surprised  and  chagrined  at  her  reception ;  but  the  repulse  only 
inspired  him  with  a  stronger  determination  to  leave  no  stone  un- 
turned in  the  achievement  of  his  purpose.  He  exerted  himself 
to  be  agreeable  to  the  rest  of  the  party  with  even  a  little  more 
than  his  usual  success,  and  the  most  attractive  elements  were 
soon  clustered  about  himself. 

This  could  not  be  altogether  agreeable  to  Ella.  "With  her 
brilliant  spirits  and  her  good  looks,  she  was  used  to  bearing 
the  palm  among  a  small  clique  of  girls,  and  she  found  herself 
compelled  to  gravitate  a  little  with  the  others,  or  form  the 
nucleus  of  a  party  in  her  own  corner. 

She  tried  this,  and  found  it  bored  her.  From  the  other  side 
of  the  room  there  came  peals  of  laughter  and  the  merry  click 
of  tongues.  "What  a  good  time  they  were  having  over  there  !  " 
Ella  thought.  "  And  how  provoking  it  was  that  she  must  be 
kept  out  in  the  cold  with  the  fag  end  of  the  party." 

Some  of  the  girls  strayed  over  to  her  side. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  349 

"  What  makes  you  stay  here?  Mr.  Howe  is  so  funny.  I've 
really  lost  my  breath  laughing  over  his  comic  adventures."  So 
the  changes  rung. 

It  was  certainly  a  hard  case  for  Ella.  So  she  compromised  ; 
allowing  herself  to  be  led  over  to  the  others  with  an  inward  res- 
ervation that  she  would  not  be  drawn  into  Derrick  Howe's  talk. 
That  young  man  was,  meanwhile,  watching  every  movement  of 
hers,  and  secretly  congratulated  himself  on  the  small  concession 
she  made  in  joining  his  group. 

He  still  avoided  directly  addressing  her,  but  exerted  his 
utmost  possibilities  in  showing  off  himself  to  the  others.  For 
it  was,  in  reality,  doing  no  more  nor  less  than  this.  He  had 
that  superficial  wit  which  is  at  a  premium  in  light,  fashionable 
society,  and  all  the  gifts  of  small  talk,  added  to  certain  graces 
of  manner,  which  the  young  always  gauge  far  above  their 
worth.  Ella  did  listen  and  sometimes  laughed,  in  spite  of  her 
resolutions. 

Music  struck  up  at  last,  and  dancing  commenced.  Ella  did 
her  part  here  ;  so  did  Derrick  Howe,  who  was  regarded  by  the 
young  ladies  as  the  greatest  prize  among  their  partners. 

Ella  had  plenty  of  engagements  —  but  nobody  went  through 
the  figures  with  such  a  grace  as  the  man  whom  she  was  under 
bonds  to  avoid.  She  began  to  wish  it  were  otherwise,  to  hope 
that  Derrick  Howe  would  invite  her  for  the  next  set  on  purpose 
to  let  the  others  hear  her  refusal. 

Governed  at  all  times  by  the  opinions  of  her  own  world,  never 
gauging  persons  by  their  intrinsic  value,  but  holding  them  at 
precisely  the  estimate  of  a  certain  class  of  people,  Ella  could 
not  resist  the  influence  which  Derrick  Howe's  social  popularity 
carried  with  it. 

"  All  the  other  girls  are  crazy  to  dance  with  him,"  thought 
Ella,  "  and  though  I  certainly  don't  wish  to  do  that,  I  should 
like  to  have  them  know  that  I  could." 

During  the  early  part  of  the  evening,  however,  Derrick  Howe 
assiduously  avoided  her.     Ella's  vanity  had  no  opportunity  to 
triumph  by  declining  any  courtesies  on  his  part. 
30 


350  DARRYLL   GAP,   OB 

He  was  shrewd  enough  to  discern  that  he  could  most  easily 
overcome  her  coldness  by  making  himself  of  chief  consequence 
in  the  eyes  of  those  around  her. 

Already  a  reaction  was  taking  place  in  Ella's  mind,  and  the 
repugnance  with  which  she  had  first  encountered  Derrick  Howe, 
was  superseded  by  one  of  anger  towards  her  father  and  Rusha. 

Meanwhile  the  young  man  was  biding  his  time.  He  could 
not,  of  course,  discern  the  process  of  Ella's  thoughts,  but  he  was 
certain,  as  the  evening  wore  on,  that  she  was  inwardly  less 
crustaceous  towards  him. 

Several  times,  as  he  stood  near  her  in  the  pauses  of  the  dance, 
Ella  expected  that  he  would  address  her.  But  he  did  nothing 
of  the  kind,  only  devoted  himself  to  the  lady  by  his  side.  She 
began  to  be  angry  with  herself  for  repelling  him  in  the  begin- 
ning —  to  feel,  too,  that  he  was  the  only  man  in  the  party  whose 
attentions  were  really  worth  having. 

The  evening  had  nearly  closed,  when  Mr.  Howe  suddenly 
turned  towards  Ella  as  though  nothing  had  transpired  betwixt 
them,  and  asked  her  opinion  on  some  trifling  matter  at  that 
moment  under  discussion.  The  smile  with  which  she  answered 
was  in  marked  contrast  with  her  manner  when  they  first  met. 
It  encouraged  him  to  ask  her  hand  for  the  next  set,  which  was 
forming  at  that  moment. 

Ella  hesitated.  Derrick  Howe  cursed  himself  for  his  precip- 
itancy ;  but  vanity  triumphed  over  conscience.  He  was  the  most 
desirable  partner  for  the  dance,  and  Ella  was  eager  to  show  him 
in  her  train,  and  he  led  her  off  in  triumph. 

Outside,  the  moonlight  lay  folding  the  earth  and  the  mountains 
in  its  white,  solemn  trance  of  beauty.  A  few  miles  off  Rusha 
Darryll  had  put  aside  the  curtains,  so  that  the  light  might  fill  the 
room  like  a  very  blessing  of  God ;  and  so  she  had  gone  to  her 
sleep.  If  she  could  only  have  known  what  was  going  on  that 
hour  not  far  away  —  if  she  could  only  have  known  ! 

Ella  Darryll  felt  that  she  had  done  wrong,  and  the  feeling 
made  her  uneasy,  defiant,  desperate.  She  grew  angry  with  Ru- 
sha. What  business,  she  asked  herself,  had  her  sister  to  extort 
a  promise  from  her  that  she  would  never  speak  to  Derrick 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  35  j 

Howe  !  It  was  a  perfect  outrage,  to  begin  with.  And  then  it 
was  an  absolute  impossibility  to  keep  it  under  the  present  cir- 
cumstances. She  had  not  asked  him  to  come  to  the  mountains, 
but  here  he  was,  and  she  must  be  civil  to  him,  despite  her 
father's  and  sister's  prejudices. 

She  really  worked  herself  up  into  the  belief  that  she  had  been 
abused,  and  that,  having  broken  the  ice  once,  there  was  no  use 
of  trying  to  keep  up  any  further  coldness  towards  Derrick 
Howe,  in  speech  or  manner.  She  had  come  to  the  Crawford 
to  have  a  good  time,  and  she  would  let  matters  take  their  own 
course,  in  spite  of  anything. 

This  conclusion  was  all  Derrick  Howe  desired.  He  had  now 
the  "  time  and  opportunity  "  he  had  coveted,  and  he  made  the 
most  of  them.  Of  course  they  had  all  sorts  of  out-door  excur- 
sions, amid  which  Mr.  Howe  was  conspicuous  —  in  short,  the 
very  life  and  centre  of  the  party. 

You  have  seen  that  he  was  just  the  sort  of  man  to  please  the 
fancy  of  a  girl  like  Ella  Darryll ;  and  he  soon  regained,  or  rather 
redoubled  the  old  impression  he  had  made  on  her. 

Intimacies  develop  rapidly  in  the  careless  freedom  of  out-door 
life  and  excursions ;  and  it  seemed  as  though  some  fate,  which 
she  did  not  long  struggle  against,  were  constantly  bringing  Der- 
rick Howe  and  Ella  in  juxtaposition.  He  was  at  her  side 'when 
the  party  rode  up  Mount  Willard  in  the  morning,  and  in  the 
afternoon  when  they  went  down  into  the  Notch  ;  and  he  was  so 
agreeable  that  Ella  could  not  have  wished  it  otherwise. 

If  her  conscience  offered  a  reproof,  she  silenced  it  with,  "  I 
can't  help  myself  now.  If  pa  and  Rusha  ever  find  it  out  there'll 
be  an  awful  storm,  but  a  little  more  or  less  talk  won't  make  any 
difference,  and  now,  I'm  in  for  it !  " 

Her  room-mate,  to  whom  she  confided  all  this,  was  sympa- 
thetic to  the  last  degree,  enjoyed  the  progress  of  affairs,  and 
firmly  believed  thafElla  Darryll  was  the  victim  of  family 
prejudice  and  cruelty. 

The  former  certainly  intended  to  keep  her  promise  inviolate, 
but  she  was  no  match  for  Derrick  Howe ;  and  he  managed  to 
extract  from  her  an  admission  that  Ella's  coldness  at  their  first 


352  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

meeting  proceeded  from  flo  fault  of  hers  —  it  was  all  owing  to 
her  family. 

In  short,  before  two  days  were  over,  Derrick  Howe  and  Ella 
Darryll  had  walked  and  rode,  had  laughed,  chatted,  flirted 
together,  and  were  really  on  a  more  intimate  footing  that  they 
had  ever  been  in  their  lives  before. 

But  the  man's  nicely  laid  plan  came  very  near  miscarrying. 
One  morning,  as  Mr.  Howe  was  sauntering  up  and  down  the 
parlor,  waiting  for  Ella  and  her  friend  to  present  themselves  for 
a  stroll  through  the  gate  of  the  Notch  to  a  little  fall  which  hung 
its  white  staircase  of  waters  between  gray  banks  of  rock,  the 
brother  of  Ella's  room-mate  hurried  in,  — 

"Where  are  the  girls,  Howe?  Here's  a  telegram  for  Ella 
Darryll." 

"  What  is  it  about?"  his  suspicions  taking  the  alarm  at  once. 

"  I  happened  to  be  at  the  desk  and  took  it.  It's  from  her 
home.  That's  all  I  know  about  it,  of  course,"  with  the  enve- 
lope in  his  hand. 

"  It  may  be  a  case  of  life  or  death,  though —  something,  in 
short,  that  should  be  broken  carefully  to  her.  As  Miss  Darryll 
is  my  friend,  I  beg  that  you  will  do  for  her  what  I  should  ask 
you  to,  under  the  same  circumstances,  for  my  own  sister  —  read 
the  telegram  before  you  deliver  it." 

It  was  putting  the  matter  in  a  very  plausible  way.  The 
young  man  was  not  very  likely  to  probe  beneath  the  surface. 

"  You  read  it,  Howe,"  placing  the  telegram  in  the  other's  hand. 

The  message  simply  announced  Tom's  arrival,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, urged  Ella's  return  by  the  next  stage.  Derrick  Howe 
saw  in  a  moment  all  his  schemes  frustrated.  "  How  was  he  to 
head  this  off?" 

His  friend  waited. 

"Bad  news,  Howe?" 

"  No  ;  only  another  plot  to  separate  us*,  and  break  her  heart, 
and  blast  my  life  !  " 

His  friend  stared.  Derrick  Howe  had  gone  too  far  to  retreat 
now  ;  and  in  an  instant  —  helped  of  the  devil  —  the  plan  shaped 
itself  in  his  mind. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  353 

"  I  want  a  few  minutes'  private  talk  with  you,"  taking  the 
arm  of  the  youug  man,  and  they  sauntered  off  into  a  little  wood- 
path  together. 

Derrick  Howe's  companion  was  a  good-hearted,  jovial  fellow, 
without  any  great  mental  acumen  of  any  sort.  The  two  young 
men  sat  down  on  the  rocks,  and  there  Mr.  Howe  confided  to 
his  friend  the  story  of  his  passion  for  Ella  Darryll,  and  of  the 
cruel  persecution  of  her  family  from  the  commencement  of  his 
suit.  He  averred  that  "  the  telegram  was  of  a  piece  with  the 
rest  of  their  conduct,  being  nothing  less  than  a  peremptory 
summons  home,  because  they  had  got  wind  of  his  presence  at 
the  Crawford."  Ella  was  represented  as  the  suffering  victim 
of  her  father's  despotism,  secretly  responding  to  her  lover's 
regard,  but  in  mortal  terror  of  her  family. 

This  was  the  only  opportunity  that  Mr.  Howe  could  find, 
during  the  season,  to  see  his  idol ;  and  he  actually  worked  him- 
.  self  up  into  a  passion,  and  declared  himself  ready  to  blow  his 
brains  out,  if  Ella  was  dragged  away  from  him  at  this  time,  as 
she  would  inevitably  be,  unless  he  had  a  friend  able  and  willing 
to  help  him. 

The  young  man  had  taken  in  all  the  bearings  of  this  story 
with  the  profoundest  interest.  At  its  close,  shaking  off  a  crust 
of  ashes  from  his  cigar,  he  delivered  himself  thus :  — 

"  Burning  shame,  Howe  !  Splendid  girl,  that  Ella  Darryll ! 
Like  to  step  in  myself  if  it  wasn't  too  late.  But  I'm  ready  to 
help  a  fellow,  heart  and  hand,  out  of  such  a  fix,  if  you'll  just 
say  how  it  is  to  be  done." 

Derrick  rose  up  and  shook  his  friend's  hand.  His  "My 
dear  fellow,  you  have  bound  me  to  you  for  the  rest  of  your 
life  !  "  was  certainly  dramatic. 

But,  when  it  came  to  details,  the  only  test  of  this  friendship 
which  Derrick  demanded,  was,  that  his  companion  should  sup- 
press all  information  respecting  the  telegram.  The  latter  was 
to  leave  for  New  York  on  the  following  day,  and  if  anything 
further  transpired  regarding  the  despatch,  there  could  be  but 
one  conclusion  —  he  had  forgotten  to  deliver  it. 
30* 


354  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

There  was  a  faint  demur  in  the  young  man's  tone,  as  he  said,— 

"  I'm  ready  to  go  any  lengths  for  you,  Howe,  and  I  suppose 
the  circumstances  justify  the  proceeding,  but  —  hang  it!  it 
doesn't  look  like  doing  just  the  honorable  thing  on  my  part." 

A  little  more  talk  on  the  other  side,  setting  the  father's  cruelty 
and  the  lover's  despair  in  an  iutenser  light,  succeeded  in  banish- 
ing all  scruples  from  the  young  man's  mind.  It  was  his  duty 
to  stand  by  his  friend,  he  thought,  and  he  agreed  to  say  nothing 
about  the  telegram. 

Derrick  Howe  passed  that  day  in  the  sole  effort  to  make 
himself  agreeable  to  Ella  Darryll.  The  young  man  was  playing 
a  desperate  game,  and  he  knew  that  it  involved  heavy  risks. 

So  he  laid  his  plans.  Of  course  the  next  day  would  bring 
some  further  summons,  either  by  telegraph,  or  through  a  direct 
messenger  from  the  cottage,  and  Derrick  Howe  accordingly 
proposed  that  they  should  the  following  morning  make  the 
ascent  of  Mount  Washington.  Of  course  everybody  agreed  to 
this,  and  the  party  started  off  on  the  adventure  in  high  glee. 

Time  was  now  all  that  Derrick  Howe  wanted.  He  was 
Ella's  cavalier  on  every  occasion,  and  he  saw  that  every  hour 
gave  him  new  influence  over  the  girl. 

"  If  he  could  only  keep  her  three  or  four  days  more  from  her 
family !  "  setting  his  teeth  hard  as  he  concocted  his  plans. 

At  the  Summit  House  he  proposed,  what  had  been  his  origi- 
nal intention,  that  the  party  should  descend  the  mountain  on 
the  other  side.  The  whole  company  were  now  wrought  up  to 
that  excited,  hilarious  state  when  they  were  ready  for  any  ad- 
venture which  promised  novelty  and  merriment. 

So  it  was  settled,  Derrick  Howe  purposely  giving  a  wrong 
address  for  the  whole  party,  so  that  any  fresh  telegrams  for 
Ella  should  miscarry. 

He  succeeded  in  keeping  the  party  for  two  days  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mountain,  and  then  made  a  divergence  in  favor  of 
the  Profile. 

So  he  had  found,  or  rather  stolen,  his  "  time  and  opportuni- 
ty." With  "  witchcrafts  of  his  wit,"  with  whatever  powers  and 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  355 

arts,  nature  or  the  devil  had  possessed  him,  he  had  succeeded  ia 
making  Ella  Darryll  believe  herself  thoroughly  in  love  with  him. 

I  am  not  certain  that  he  had  won  her  heart,  but  it  really 
amounted,  for  present  purposes,  to  the  same  thing,  if  she  thought 
he  had.  She  had  persuaded  herself  that  both  she  and  Derrick 
Howe  were  the  innocent  victims  of  family  injustice ;  and  with- 
out actually  committing  himself,  he  had,  by  all  his  words  and 
acts,  tended  to  confirm  her  in  this  opinion.  He  was  as  adroit 
in  declaring  his  love  as  he  had  been  in  managing  his  whole 
plot,  which  certainly  required  a  good  deal  of  skill  to  consum- 
mate successfully. 

The  party  had  been  out,  just  at  sunset,  for  a  sail  on  Profile 
Lake,  that  "  embodied  sympathy  "  of  the  mountains,  as  Starr 
King  poetically  calls  it.  The  lake  was  in  its  tenderest,  most 
pensive  mood  at  that  hour,  "  taking  into  its  own  being,  and 
holding  there  still  and  perfect,  all  the  colors  and  forms  which 
wrought  the  miracle  of  the  landscape  around." 

The  scene  and  hour  wrought  their  spell  on  even  the  light, 
gay  party  that  had  drifted  down  in  search  of  some  fresh  novelty 
and  merriment. 

Whatsoever  of  fancy  or  sentiment  Ella  Darryll's  youth  held, 
it  had  been  awakened  in  these  last  days ;  and  her  company 
lauded  from  their  sail  on  the  lake  in  a  singularly  sobered  mood, 
and  moved  up  to  the  point  which  commanded  the  clear,  strong 
Profile  keeping  its  watch  on  the  mountain  top,  "  with  a  sugges- 
tion partly  of  fatigue,  partly  of  melancholy." 

The  sunset  -filled  the  solemn  Stone  Face  with  a  light  that 
made  it  almost  awful,  giving  it  that  rapt  radiance  of  expression 
"  which  seems  to  belong  only  to  the  noblest  human  countenances 
in  their  sublimest  moods." 

Ella  Darryll  stood  leaning  on  Derrick  Howe's  arm,  and 
gazed  and  gazed.  He  watched  her  face,  thinking,  if  not  in  so 
many  words,  yet  in  spirit,  that  perhaps  this  hour  had  brought 
the  time  and  tide  which  would  lead  him  on  to  a  large  slice  of 
the  fortune  of  John  Darryll. 

"Ella,"  the  melodious  voice  deepened  into  a  tender  melan- 
choly, "  I  wish  this  hour  could  last  forever  ! ' 


356  DAERTLL    GAP,    OB 

She  glanced  up  into  his  face  —  a  face  that  women  generally 
called  handsome.  It  certainly  looked  its  best  at  that  hour. 
The  girl's  eyes  were  full  of  tears. 

"  Do  you  wish  so,  Ella?" 

She  drew  a  sigh. 

"  What  is  the  use,  Mr.  Howe,  of  wishing  in  vain?" 

The  rest  of  the  party  had  sauntered  on.  When  could  Der- 
rick Howe  have  a  better  time?  If  he  could  only  manage  to 
make  Ella  commit  herself  by  some  sort  of  promise  that  should 
give  him  a  hold  on  her  before  that  home  telegram  should  reach 
her,  which  he  had  been  running  away  from  all  these  days  ! 

He  cursed  the  Fates  inwardly  that  he  had  not  a  little  longer 
time,  but  he  made  a  "  virtue  of  necessity,"  and  told  his  love. 
Of  course  Derrick  Howe  did  that  well.  If  ever  man  made 
woman  believe  that  life  without  her  must  be  to  him  a  dreary 
blank,  an  intolerable  misery,  that  in  his  eyes  she  was  the  em- 
bodiment of  all  superlative  grace,  and  sweetness,  and  beauty, 
then  of  a  certainty  Derrick  Howe  did  that  thing. 

And  Ella  listened,  her  self-love  flattered,  her  fancy  fired,  her 
woman's  heart,  for,  despite  all  her  faults  and  superficialities, 
she  had  more  or  less  of  one,  deeply  touched. 

And  when  her  lover  pleaded  in  those  eloquent  tones  of  his 
for  some  word  or  sign  on  which  he  might  hang  a  faint  hope  for 
the  lonely  future,  she  murmured  that  "  if  it  were  not  for  the 
hopeless  opposition  of  her  family,"  and  broke  down  into  pas- 
sionate sobs. 

This  was  enough.  The  man  took  the  rest  for  granted.  All 
that  he  said  afterwards,  was  artfully  calculated  to  stimulate  the 
girl's  indignation  against  her  family,  while  he  represented  her 
and  himself  as  the  innocent  and  suffering  victims  of  the  most 
cruel  injustice  and  prejudice. 

Poor  Ella  !  When  Derrick  Howe  besought  her,  after  all  this, 
not  to  blast  the  rest  of  that  long  summer  by  taking  herself  away 
from  him.  and  refusing  to  join  the  party  which  were  next  week 
to  start  for  a  tour  up  Lake  George,  what  could  the  girl  do? 

She  reflected  that  it  would  never  do  for  her  to  extend  her 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  35  7 

journey  without  first  returning  home  and  gaining  the  consent 
of  the  powers  that  reigned  there. 

A  little  finesse  would  probably  succeed  in  obtaining  full  per- 
mission for  the  lengthened  trip,  if  none  of  her  family  knew 
who  was  to  form  the  principal  feature  of  the  party. 

She  shrank  at  the  thought  of  this  wholesale  deception,  but 
Derrick  Howe  was  at  her  side  with  his  eloquent  pleading,  and 
at  last  she  said  she  would  go. 

When  they  reached  the  Profile  she  found  the  telegram  an- 
nouncing Tom's  arrival.  Of  course  she  must  return  home  the 
next  morning. 

Derrick  Howe  made  the  most  of  what  time  remained,  imply- 
ing by  the  tender  devotion  of  his  look  and  speech  that  Ella  and 
he  consciously  belonged  to  each  other. 

Ella's  manner  —  tearful,  bewildered,  and  half  reciprocal  — 
allowed  him  to  put  the  interpretation  that  he  chose  on  the 
relation,  though  she  neither  denied  nor  accepted  the  one  he 
claimed. 

Do  you  think  Derrick  Howe  was  a  villain  in  all  this  ?  He  by 
no  means  regarded  himself  as  one.  I  am  not  certain  but  the 
man  had  a  code  of  honor  of  his  own. 

"  Why,"  he  would  have  asked,  with  a  show  of  plausibility, 
"  had  he  not  as  good  a  right  as  any  other  living  man  to  woo 
and  win  Ella  Darryll  ?  It  was  a  bargain  in  which  she  certainly 
would  be  as  much  the  gainer  as  himself." 

He  had  as  good  a  right,  too,  to  a  son-in-law's  share  of  her 
father's  money  as  anybody  else,  and  a  fellow  was  a  deuced  fool 
who  wouldn't  go  in  for  the  girl  he  wanted,  and  win  her,  too,  if 
he  was  smart  enough,  because  her  family  happened  to  oppose  it ! " 

He  had  a  general  intention,  if,  indeed,  he  ever  thought  of  the 
matter  at  all,  of  making  Ella  Darryll  a  good  husband,  and  be- 
lieved himself  in  love  with  her,  at  least  more  so  than  with  any 
other  woman. 

What  was  there  dishonorable  in  all  this?  He  —  Derrick 
Howe  —  a  villain  ! 


358  DAERYLL   OAF,   OR 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

ELLA'S  welcome  home  partook  of  the  somewhat  mixed  nature 
of  the  emotions  which  had  agitated  the  bosom  of  her  family  for 
the  last  few  days. 

Her  arrival  was,  of  course,  a  relief  to  the  general  solicitude 
felt  in  view  of  her  mysterious  absence,  but  this  was  hardly  made 
prominent  in  the  Babel  of  tongues  which  ensued  from  the 
assembled  household. 

"  Where  have  you  kept  yourself?  "  "  What  have  you  been 
about?"  "  Do  you  know  that  Tom  has  come  and  gone  without 
your  seeing  him?"  were  the  inquiries  thrust  at  her  on  all  sides, 
in  partly  amazed  and  partly  reproachful  tones. 

Still,  it  was  the  keenness  of  disappointment,  rather  than  any 
conviction  that  Ella  was  to  blame,  which  wrought  the  indigna- 
tion in  feeling  or  manner. 

Ella's  defence  was,  of  course,  a  true  one,  so  far  as  it  went,  and 
when  she  had  made  it,  her  family  could  find  nothing  on  her  part 
to  which  they  could  attach  any  blame,  though  there  was,  some- 
how, an  undefined  inclination  in  the  domestic  jury  not  to  wholly 
acquit  her.  The  most  they  could  do  w&s  to  convict  her  of  in- 
judiciousness  in  leaving  the  Crawford  House  without  first  writ- 
ing home  ;  but  Ella's  reply  completely  pulverized  that  objection. 
She  had  expected  to  return  to  the  hotel  before  a  letter  could 
reach  her  family,  and,  of  course,  when  she  had  once  left,  it  was 
impossible  to  return  without  her  party. 

Somebody  faintly  insinuated  that  "  she  had  no  business  to  go 
at  all ;  "  but  her  prompt  "  Who  of  you  wouldn't  have  done  it 
under  the  same  circumstances  ?  "  met  a  silent  affirmative  in  each 
consciousness  that  prevented  any  further  pursuit  of  that  point. 
In  the  end,  as  at  the  beginning,  the  telegraph  wires  and  their 
irresponsible  operators  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  offence. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  359 

"Such  a  play  at  'hide  and  seek'  with  half  a  dozen  tele- 
grams would  be  hard  to  match  ;  I'm  ready  to  bet  a  round 
sum  on  that." 

Thus  Guy  delivered  himself  at  last ;  and  though  nobody  was 
ready  to  take  him  up,  perhaps  each  one  felt  that,  on  the  whole, 
it  was  about  as  sensible  a  way  as  any  other  of  disposing  of  so 
vexatious  a  matter. 

Still,  however  slight  the  causes,  the  result  remained,  and  to  a 
family  like  the  Darrylls  was  one  not  easily  overlooked.  Tom 
had  come  and  gone,  and  Ella  had  not  seen  him  ! 

The  girl  felt  this  keenly,  and  altogether  her  emotions  were  not 
of  a  nature  to  be  envied. 

It  is  true  she  had  succeeded  in  putting  It  out  of  the  power  of 
her  family  to  fasten  upon  any  tangible  point  for  blame  in  her 
conduct ;  but  that  did  not  lessen  her  secret  knowledge  that  they 
were  ignorant  of  the  real  facts  of  the  case,  or  of  what  must  be 
their  horrified  amazement  did  they  but  have  a  suspicion  that 
Derrick  Howe  was  at  the  bottom  of  her  absence. 

Ella  had,  of  course,  no  suspicion  of  the  real  part  he  had  played 
in  the  matter,  or  that  he  had  not  been,  during  this  whole  time, 
as  ignorant  of  Tom's  furlough  as  herself;  but  her  own  con- 
science would  make  itself  heard  now  ;  she  could  not  get  rid  of  a 
feeling  of  guilt  in  the  presence  of  her  family,  and  the  result  was, 
that  she  broke  out  suddenly  into  a  fit  of  passionate  crying  — 
something  very  unusual  with  the  careless,  high-spirited  girl. 

"  If  I'd  only  seen  Tom,"  she  sobbed.  "  If  I'd  only  staid  at 
home  !  I'm  as  wretched  as  I  can  be  !  " 

Tears  were  something  which  Rusha  Darryll  could  never  stand. 
The  sight  of  them  always  wrought  a  revulsion  in  that  soft  little 
heart  of  hers,  and  the  sobs  now  brought  the  elder  sister  round 
squarely  on  the  younger's  side. 

"  I  think  we're  all  very  hard  on  Ella,"  she  said.  "  I'm  sure, 
from  her  own  showing,  she  wasn't  at  all  to  blame  ;  and  we  should 
any  of  us  have  done  just  the  same  under  the  circumstances. 
It's  hard  enough  for  her  to  feel  that  she's  missed  Tom,  without 
our  adding  to  the  grief  by  any  reproaches.  Poor  child  !  ' 


360  DARRYLL    OAP,   OR 

I  think  Ella  must  have  secretly  winced  under  this  kindness, 
knowing  what  she  did ;  but  it  effected  a  diversion  in  her  favor. 

The  sound  of  her  weeping,  and  a  doubt  whether,  after  all, 
they  had  not  been  unjust  towards  her,  made  each  follow  Rusha's 
example,  and  seek  to  excuse  and  comfort  Ella. 

But  all  the  kind  words  fell  short  of  the  real  cause  of  her  grief 
—  a  cause  which,  proud  and  imperious  as  she  was,  she  shivered 
at  the  thought  of  her  family's  suspecting.  She  was  frightened 
whenever  she  remembered  Derrick  Howe,  and  how  far  she  had 
gone  with  him.  She  told  herself  over  and  over  again,  when  she 
reflected  on  it,  that  it  was  nothing  more  than  a  flirtation  —  that, 
of  course,  no  engagement  existed  betwixt  them. 

But  after  all  she  found  her  thoughts  constantly  recurring  to 
him,  dwelling  on  the  tenderness  of  his  looks  and  words  and 
manner.  She  was  restless,  and  filled  with  an  uneasy  longing  to 
be  again  in  his  society. 

Then,  Derrick  Howe  was  a  man  after  Ella  Darryll's  own 
heart.  If  I  only  repeat  here  what  I  have  said  before,  it  is  be- 
cause I  wish  to  make  of  it  a  strong  point,  in  order  that  you  may 
be  able  to  judge  of  her  fairly  in  what  follows. 

Every  woman  has  some  heart,  I  suppose  ;  and  although  it  may 
be  shallow,  and  largely  absorbed  in  self,  or  what  affection  it  has  to 
give  bestowed  on  an  unworthy  object,  still,  it  is  only  simple 
justice  to  take  into  account  that  affection,  and  what  it  is  to  her. 

Ella  could  not  make  her  home  seem  anything  but  dull  and 
distasteful.  She  dreaded,  yet  longed  to  get  away  from  it  agaiu 
among  her  gay  friends,  and  the  fascination  of  Derrick  Howe's 
society,  which  latter  seemed  to  her  the  only  thing  in  the  world 
that  could  make  her  happy.  The  knowledge,  too,  that  she  had 
done  wrong,  and  the  secret  which  she  carried  hidden  from  all 
her  family,  made  her  uneasy  in  their  presence,  and  gave  her  a 
lurking  feeling  that  resembled  somewhat  in  kind  the  timidity  of 
conscious  guilt. 

This  was  altogether  a  new  experience  to  her,  and  Ella  Darryll 
was  not  herself  at  this  time.  She  was  absent,  restless,  depressed. 
Her  family  were  conscious  of  all  this,  but  attributed  it  in  a  gen- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  361 

eral  way  to  her  regret  at  missing  Tom,  and  to  her  not  feeling 
quite  well  — the  result,  as  everybody  supposed,  of  all  the  gay 
excitement  she  had  just  gone  through. 

So  they  were  all  kinder  than  ever  towards  her  ;  and  perhaps 
that  very  thing  only  made  her  the  more  miserable,  as  one  is  apt 
to  be  who  trembles  at  the  thought  of  discovery  before  one's 
dearest  friends. 

There  came  a  time  when  the  meaning  of  Ella's  conduct 
revealed  itself  to  her  family,  and  they  wondered,  as  we  all  do, 
when  it  is  too  late,  at  their  own  obtuseness ;  but  now  nothing 
transpired  to  awaken  a  suspicion  on  any  side. 

For  several  days  Ella  did  not  allude  to  the  contemplated  trip 
to  Lake  George.  If  she  put  the  question  to  her  own  soul, 
whether  she  was  most  anxious  to  go  or  to  remain  at  home,  I 
doubt  whether  the  girl,  in  the  state  of  mind  which  then  possessed 
her,  could  have  answered  it. 

Her  emotions  were  of  a  composite  character.  She  panted  at 
times  to  get  away,  and  yet  she  shrank  instinctively  from  placing 
herself  again  under  the  influence  of  Derrick  Howe.  I  think  she 
had  become  timid  of  late,  or  rather,  her  courage  had  never  be- 
fore been  put  to  so  strong  a  test.  Some  dread  of  coming  evil 
oppressed  her.  Certainly  she  was  to  be  pitied. 

Meanwhile,  Derrick  Howe  was  not  idle.  He  feared  constantly 
the  revulsion  of  feeling  which  Ella  would  be  likely  to  undergo 
when  removed  from  his  influence  to  that  of  her  own  family,  and 
in  order  to  neutralize  the  latter  before  it  should  have  gained  the 
ascendency,  he  persuaded  her  young  friend  at  the  Crawford  to 
write  her  at  once,  and  permit  him  to  enclose  a  letter. 

It  was  a  lover's  letter,  of  course,  full  of  honeyed  and  passion- 
ate phrases,  asserting,  in  varied  forms  of  intenseuess,  that  the 
writer  was  only  dragging  a  miserable  existence  through  the  days, 
and  counting  the  hours  that  intervened  before  his  idol  should 
redeem  her  promise  by  joining  them  for  the  trip  to  Lake  George. 
You  may  smile  over  all  this,  but  sensible  women  have  been 
wooed  and  won  by  "  drinking  in  the  honey "  of  less  musical 
vows  than  those  of  Derrick  Howe. 
31 


362  DAERTLL    GAP,    OB 

At  any  rate,  after  the  almost  sleepless  night  which  followed 
the  reception  of  his  letter,  Ella  surprised  her  family  by  an- 
nouncing her  promise  to  accompany  the  party  at  the  Crawford 
on  their  contemplated  trip  to  Lake  George. 

This  did  not  meet  with  much  approval  at  first.  Mrs.  Dar- 
ryll  always  entered  a  little  demur  when  any  of  her  family  talked 
of  leaving  home,  and  averred  that  Ella's  mountain  trip  had  done 
her  more  harm  than  good,  and  Lake  George  would  only  be 
farther  off,  and  the  same  excitement  and  wear  and  tear  over 
again. 

"  I  think  it's  funny,"  said  Agnes,  "  that  you  haven't  spoken 
of  this  Lake  George  plan  before.  Now,  how  did  you  know  but 
Rusha  and  I  might  like  to  go  too  ?  " 

Something  came  and  went  in  Ella's  face  that  nobody  saw,  but 
she  said,  quietly  enough,  — 

"  I  didn't  suppose  it  was  necessary  to  speak  of  it,  as  neither 
of  you  was  there  to  receive  invitations ;  besides,  I  was  not  cer- 
tain I  wanted  to  go  until  my  letter  came.  They  will  all  be  so 
disappointed  if  I  refuse  now." 

"  I  count  myself  happy  in  not  having  the  trouble  of  declining 
the  invitation.  Money  wouldn't  hire  me  to  leave  the  moun- 
tains this  summer,"  was  Rusha' s  characteristic  rejoinder. 

But  nobody  had  any  objections  of  a  positive  kind  to  urge, 
and,  for  want  of  these,  it  was  at  last  settled  that  Ella  should  go. 
She  was  to  be  absent  only  a  week.  The  anxious  mother  made 
this  a  condition  of  her  consent,  and  added  thereto  all  sorts  of 
injunctions  regarding  health  and  prudence  during  the  journey. 

Only  two  days  remained  before  Ella  should  join  her  party, 
and  during  this  time,  as  they  afterwards  remembered,  she 
seemed  in  a  feverish  absorption  with  her  preparations  for  the 
journey.  But  the  night  preceding  Ella's  departure,  Rusha  was 
suddenly  awakened  out  of  a  sound  sleep  by  a  figure  in  white 
standing  by  the  bedside. 

"  Ella,  is  that  you?"  a  good  deal  startled  —  the  faint  moon- 
light in  the  room  making  her  partially  discern  the  figure. 

"  I  feel  badly,  Rusha.     Something  is  troubling  me.     Let  me 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  3(53 

get  into  bed  with  you,"  speaking  in  an  excited,  half-coherent 
way,  so  unlike  Ella  Darryll. 

Rusha  made  room  on  the  couch,  and  her  sister  sank  down 
beside  her  in  a  strange,  frightened  sort  of  shiver. 

"Why,  what  is  the  matter?  Have  you  been  dreaming,  or 
are  you  sick,  Ella?" 

"  No,  it  is  neither  of  these.  But  I  feel  as  though  I  didn't 
want  to  go  on  this  journey  to-morrow.  It  seems  as  though 
something  terrible  will  be  sure  to  happen  if  I  do." 

"  Why,  Ella,  how  strange ! "  a  little  impressed  herself. 
"  But  it's  all  because  you  are  nervous  still,  about  that  matter  of 
the  telegrams.  Don't  you  see  ?  " 

But  Ella  did  not  answer.     She  was  crying. 
It  was  in  Rusha's  nature  to  put  her  arms  around  her  sister, 
saying  all  kind  and  loving  words  that  would  be  most  likely  to 
comfort  her.     Ella  clung  to  her  as  she  never  had  done  before 
in  her  life.     At  last  she  said,  — 

"  Don't  you  think,  Rusha,  I  had  better  stay  at  home,  after 
all?" 

Rusha  hesitated  a  moment.  She  was  half  inclined  to  urge 
her  sister  to  give  up  the  trip ;  indeed,  she  had  never  regarded 
her  going  very  cordially.  But  Ella's  spirits  seemed  to  need  a 
change,  and  it  would  be  lonesome  for  her  all  summer  at  the 
cottage.  The  mountains  would  never  be  the  company  to  her 
sister  that  they  were  to  herself.  Then,  as  Ella  was  pivotal  in 
this  matter,  it  seemed  hardly  like  treating  the  party  fairly  to 
decline  accompanying  it  at  the  last  moment. 

All  these  considerations  gave  their  coloring  to  Rusha's  reply, 
and  no  angel  leaning  down  in  the  uiidni^ht  whispered  to  her 
soul  that  great  issues  of  all  their  future  lives  hung  upon  her 
answer. 

"  Well,  really,  Ella,  I  hardly  know  what  to  say.  It  seems 
superstitious  to  regard  the  feeling  seriously,  or  as  a  presentiment 
of  evil.  Turn  over  now  and  go  to  sleep,  and  leave  tin-  whole 
thing  for  the  morning  to  settle.  Light  always  clears  the  <•,.!.- 
webs  from  one's  brain.  If  you  prefer  to  give  up  Lake  George 
then,  do  so  by  all  means." 


364  DARBYLL    GAP,    OR 

This  seemed  to  satisfy  Ella,  and  in  a  little  while  both  the 
sisters  fell  asleep. 

In  the  morning  Ella's  spirits  returned,  and  she  seemed,  on 
the  whole,  inclined  to  the  trip,  though  Rusha  fancied  her  sister 
still  felt  some  internal  reluctance  to  really  getting  off. 

The  impression  which  Ella's  conduct  had  made  the  night 
before  on  the  elder  sister  induced  the  latter  to  confide  the  whole 
to  her  mother,  adding  a  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  Ella's  leaving 
home  at  this  juncture  —  a  doubt  which  Mrs.  Darryll  shared, 
although  both  ladies  agreed  that  there  seemed  no  sufficient 
grounds  for  changing  her  mind  at  the  last  moment,  and  that 
her  friends  would  regard  themselves  as  very  unfairly  treated. 

But  when,  in  this  indecision,  the  mother  and  sister  sought 
Ella,  they  found  that  a  letter  from  her  friends  at  the  hotel, 
full  of  hilarious  anticipation  at  the  prospect  of  the  journey,  had 
infected  her  again,  and  that  whatever  her  doubts  might  have 
been,  she  was  now  quite  eager  for  the  trip. 

They  little  suspected  that  the  note  which  Derrick  Howe  had 
enclosed  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  sudden  transition  in  her 
feelings. 

She  started  off  when  the  time  came  in  eager  spirits.  At  the 
very  last  moment,  Rusha  rushed  down  to  the  gate  and  called 
out  to  her,  — 

"  Now  have  a  good  time,  Ella,  and  enjoy  yourself  all  you 
can  for  the  next  week." 

Rusha  thought  some  expression  gathered  in  Ella's  eyes.     Was 
it  doubt  or  pain  ?     She  could  not  tell,  for  the  carriage  drove  off  . 
at  that  moment. 

The  week  of  Ella's  absence  had  worn  itself  into  two,  and 
still  the  party  from  the  mountains  lingered  at  Lake  George. 
Not  that  the  whole  time  had  been  passed  here.  They  had  made 
various  excursions  in  the  vicinity,  and  flitted  down  to  Saratoga 
every  day  or  two,  but  this  had  been  their  rallying  point. 

For  two  weeks  Ella  Darryll  had  been  completely  under 
Derrick  Howe's  influence.  It  seemed  impossible  for  the 
girl  to  resist  this.  He  had  obtained  almost  absolute  ascen- 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  3(55 

dency  over  her  will.  He  was  careful  always  to  assume  in 
their  talk  that  they  belonged  to  each  other  by  the  sacredness 
of  a  betrothal  which  none  had  the  right  to  interfere  with  or 
deny. 

If  Ella  at  first  shrank  from  all  the  consequences  which  this 
assumption  involved,  she  soon  virtually  accepted  it ;  indeed  she 
had  sunk  into  a  state  of  comparative  passivity,  letting  the  rapids 
of  these  two  weeks  bear  her  whither  they  would,  and  managin" 
to  exclude  pretty  thoroughly  all  disagreeable  thoughts  from  her 
mind,  while  Derrick  Howe  had  contrived  to  give  her  very  little 
time  for  reflection. 

But  of  course  things  could  not  go  on  in  this  way  forever, 
much  as  Ella  might  desire  it. 

The  party  had  already,  through  his  influence,  doubled  the 
period  allotted  for  the  Lake,  and  Derrick  Howe  saw  that  what 
he  did  must  be  done  quickly,  or  all  his  deeply-laid  plot,  which 
had  carried  nicely  so  far,  must  go  for  nothing. 

If  Ella  was  allowed  to  slip  from  his  hands  at  that  time,  the 
probability  was,  he  should  never  have  another  good  chance, 
"  and  he  was  not  going  to  be  such  a  fool  as  to  let  his  prize 
go,  if  he  could  snap  it  up  by  one  desperate  effort,"  reasoned 
Derrick  Howe. 

In  the  gathering  of  the  summer  evening,  he  walked  on  the 
shores  of  the  Lake  with  Ella  Darryll  leaning  on  his  arm.  They 
were  to  leave  late  on  the  morrow. 

Derrick  Howe's  manner  had  never  been  quite  so  tender  —  in 
voice  and  look  there  had  never  been  just  that  insinuating  sad- 
ness which  filled  them  to-night. 

His  talk  went  out  to  the  separation  close  at  hand  —  to  the 
dreary  future  which  lay  before  them  both,  apart  from  each  other 
—  to  the  cruel  prejudices  which  were  to  blight  the  lives  of 
both  —  and  Ella  listened,  her  emotions  all  wrought  up  to  a 
pitch  of  intense  feeling,  until  she  believed  herself  and  her  lover 
the  most  wronged  and  outraged  of  mortals. 

She  could  only  sob  on  his  arm,  and  he  could  only  entreat  her, 
with  soft  caresses,  to  spare  him  the  agony  of  seeing  her  tears, 
31* 


366  DARRYLL    GAP,    OB 

when,  of  a  sudden,  he  spoke  as  though  impelled  by  some  new 
idea,  which,  until  that  moment,  had  never  entered  his  thoughts. 

"  Why  should  we,  who  so  love  and  belong  to  each  other, 
inflict  this  long  wretchedness  on  ourselves  ?  Have  we  a  right 
to  do  it,  Ella,  when  the  remedy  lies  open  to  us?  Or  do  we  owe 
everything  to  others,  nothing  to  ourselves?  " 

"What  remedy  do  you  mean,  Derrick?"  and  for  a  moment 
she  ceased  to  sob,  lifting  up  her  flushed  face  in  the  moonlight, 
looking  so  fair  that  I  think  Derrick  Howe  kissed  it,  that  time, 
at  least,  solely  for  itself. 

Then  he  leaned  down  and  whispered  something  in  Ella's  ear. 

She  started  back  with  a  look  of  fright,  and  dropped  his  arm. 
"  O,  Derrick,  don't,  don't !  Think  of  my  family,"  she  broke 
out  in  passionate  denial. 

Derrick  Howe  had  foreseen  what  fears  and  scruples,  on  Ella's 
part,  he  would  have  to  surmount ;  but  everything  was  staked  on 
the  success  or  failure  of  this  night,  and  he  was  sworn  "  to  come 
out  winner  if  man  could  do  it." 

It  was  a  long  time  before  he  could  get  Ella  to  listen  to  him. 
I  think  most  men  would  have  given  up  the  point,  whatever  that 
might  be,  as  hopeless,  she  insisted  so  absolutely  on  the  impos- 
sibility of  considering  it  for  one  moment. 

An  elopement  and  a  surreptitious  marriage  —  for  Derrick 
Howe's  talk  had  come  to  that  at  last  —  was  something  that 
shocked  all  Ella's  ingrained  tastes  and  natural  conventionality, 
and  deeper  than  all  these  was  the  thought  of  her  family. 

But  her  resistance  only  added  fuel  to  the  flame  of  Derrick 
Howe's  purpose.  He  made  the  most  of  all  the  circumstances 
that  he  saw  would  weigh  in  his  favor —  the  separation  to-mor- 
row, his  own  misery,  and  the  probability  that,  despite  all  their 
efforts,  this  parting  would  be  a  final  one. 

He  drew  such  a  picture  of  the  rage  of  Ella's  family  when  the 
fact  should  transpire,  as  it  inevitably  must,  that  he  had  been 
of  the  party,  both  at  the  mountains  and  the  Lake,  that  the  girl 
fairly  shuddered  at  the  prospect  of  returning  home.  And  then 
there  was  the  engagement.  Would  she  have  the  courage  to 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  3(57 

avow  it  to  her  family,  and  encounter  the  wrath  and  persecution 
which  must  be  the  result?  or  must  she  wear  out  her  sweet  youth 
and  break  her  heart,  and  his  own  too,  with  the  burden  of  its 
secret  love  ? 

She  owed  much  to  her  family,  he  granted  ;  but  was  not  her 
lover's  the  prior  claim  now  —  now  that  they  had  given  them- 
selves to  each  other? 

How  eloquently  the  man  pleaded,  believing  himself  in  earnest 
too,  and  for  the  time,  perhaps,  never  once  thinking  of  the  broker's 
money-bags. 

Then  he  turned  the  other  side  of  the  picture  towards  her  —  a 
glowing  one  enough  to  poor  Ella's  fevered  imagination  —  of 
their  happiness  together,  with  no  one  to  interfere  betwixt  them  ; 
of  his  life-long  tenderness  and  devotion  ;  and  how,  the  step  once 
taken,  her  parents  must  inevitably  accept  the  fact,  and  be  recon- 
ciled to  it.  That  was  always  the  way  with  people  who  indulged 
unreasonable  prejudices ;  and  then,  too,  Ella  would  have  his 
strength  to  lean  all  her  fears  on ;  he  would  have  the  right  to 
defend  her ;  while,  if  she  left  hind  now,  she  must  encounter  her 
family's  cruelty  alone :  he  could  not  stand  between  his  idol  and 
any  wrong  she  might  suffer  —  a  thought  that  would  add  tenfold 
to  his  own  anguish. 

Hour  after  hour  the  man  went  on,  weaving  all  the  eloquence 
and  sophistry  of  which,  he  was  master,  into  his  talk,  with  artful 
appeals  to  whatever  was  best  or  weakest  in  his  listener's  head 
or  heart. 

The  midnight  came  and  went  as  they  walked  by  the  banks  of 
the  Lake,  and  the  stars  of  God  kept  their  appointed  watch  over 
the  man  and  woman  there. 

And  though  Ella  continued,  amid  her  sobs,  to  resist,  passion- 
ately as  ever,  all  Derrick  Howe's  entreaties  and  arguments,  the 
man  felt  at  last  that  he  was  gaining  ground. 

Harrowed  and  excited,  the  poor,  foolish  girl  was  brought  face 
to  face  with  her  own  fate,  to  make  her  choice,  when  she  was 
least  capable  of  doing  it ;  and  at  last  her  feelings,  as  was  natural, 
wound  themselves  up  to  a  pitch  of  desperation.  She  dreaded  to 


368  DAEEYLL    GAP,    OB 

return  home.  She  shuddered  at  the  storm  which,  sooner  or 
later,  she  knew,  must  fall  upon  her  there.  How  could  she  resist 
the  combined  domestic  forces  ?  and  would  they  not  compel  her 
to  give  up  her  lover? 

She  remembered  what  Rusha,  single-handed,  had  once  ac- 
complished ;  and  how  would  it  be  possible  for  her  to  remain  at 
at  home  with  the  whole  family  arrayed  against  her  ? 

And  then,  on  the  other  hand,  if  she  really  had  courage  to 
take  the  final  step,  would  it  not  all  be  comparatively  easy  ?  Her 
husband  could  stand  between  her  and  the  rage  of  her  family, 
and  after  the  first  shock  was  over,  they  would,  of  course,  have 
to  accept  the  facts. 

And  there  all  the  time  was  Derrick  Howe,  pouring  his  sweet 
flatteries,  and  persuasions,  and  sophistical  arguments  into  her 
ear.  She  grew  desperate  ;  yet  it  was  long  before  she  virtually 
yielded  —  longer  still  before  she  could  be  brought  to  speak  that 
final  word  which  should  seal  her  destiny  to-morrow. 

If  Derrick  Howe  had  had  the  ground  a  little  less  completely 
to  himself —  if  there  had  beec  anybody  at  hand  to  break,  by  a 
single  word,  the  chain  of  influences  he  had  woven  around  her, 
Ella  Darryll  would  have  been  saved ! 

But  after  parting  with  her  at  the  door  of  the  hotel,  there 
came  a  flash  of  triumph  over  the  man's  face,  and  something 
behind  that  hard  and  defiant. 

"  You've  gained  the  battle,  Derrick  Howe,"  he  muttered, 
"  but  it's  been  the  hardest  night's  work  you  ever  did  !  " 

Then  he  looked  up  to  the  sky,  and  far  off  in  the  east  he  saw 
the  dawn  of  that  new  day  that  was  to  work  "  for  weal  or  for 
woe "  the  future  of  Ella  Darryll ! 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

"  DON'T  you  think,  ma,  Ella  is  too  bad?  She  promised  to  be 
home  in  a  week,  and  here  it  is  more  than  two  since  she  left. 
It's  so  lonely  without  her  ! " 

Agnes  Darryll  threw  down  the  book  she  had  been  reading, 
and  raised  herself  from  the  lounge  as  she  thus  addressed  her 
mother. 

The  day  was  a  sultry  one,  even  among  the  mountains,  and 
Mrs.  Darryll  had  been  dozing  in  her  easy-chair  by  the  opeu 
windows.  Her  daughter's  talk,  however,  roused  her,  and  she 
answered  in  a  half  querulous,  half  languid  fashion,  plying  a 
huge  palm  leaf, — 

"  Yes  ;  that  child  had  no  business  to  stay  so  long.  But  when 
she  gets  off  on  a  frolic  she  never  knows  where  to  stop.  Your 
father's  blaming  me  because  I  gave  my  consent  to  her  going  at 
all,  and  I  can't  much  wonder.  After  all  the  trouble  and  expense 
he's  been  at  to  get  such  a  home  for  the  summer,  it  seems  a 
shame  for  his  children  not  to  stay  and  enjoy  it." 

Whether  Agnes  would  have  stood  on  her  sister's  defence  did 
not  transpire,  for  at  that  moment  the  carriage  rolled  up  to  the 
gate,  with  Mr.  Darryll  and  Guy,  who  had  just  returned  from 
Littleton. 

They  came  in  tired,  heated  and  dusty. 

"  Well,  this  is  a  roaster,  I  tell  you ! "  was  Guy's  comment, 
as  he  disgorged  his  pockets  of  sundry  papers  and  pamphlets  he 
had  collected  at  the  p^ost-office. 

"Any  news  from  the  world  outside,  Guy?"  asked  Agnes. 

"  Not  much.  Rusha  has  letters  from  Tom  and  Ella,"  pro- 
ducing these  from  another  pocket. 

"  Pretty  work  this,"  said  his  father,  in  a  sort  of  growl,  for 


370  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

he  had  reached  that  time  of  life  when  a  long,  hot,  dusty  ride  5s 
not  just  the  thing  to  improve  a  man's  spirits  —  "I  shall  write 
to  her  this  very  night,  to  send  herself  home,  instead  of  any  more 
letters.  I  thought  I  got  this  house  with  the  express  understand- 
ing that  my  family  should  remain  in  it  this  summer ; "  and  he 
left  the  room,  and  everybody  knew  he  would  resume  his  good 
humor  with  his  slippers  and  his  supper. 

Meanwhile,  Guy  marched  up  stairs,  and  found  Rusha  buried 
among  "  Friends  in  Council,"  those  delightful  books  whose 
honey-dew  she  was  fond  of  gathering  in  quiet,  idle  moods,  such 
as  a  day  like  this  was  likely,  with  her,  to  superinduce. 

Guy  held  up  the  letters  with  a  roguish  feint  of  not  giving  them 
to  her.  She  was  off  her  seat  in  a  moment :  — 

"  O,  Guy,  please,  now  1 "  Letters  had  the  attraction  for  her 
that  somehow  they  seem  to  hold  for  all  her  sex. 

"  Guess  first,"  playfully  keeping  the  addresses  too  far  out  of 
her  sight  for  her  to  distinguish  them. 

"Let's  see.  Tom  and  Ella?  It's  time  I  heard  from  both 
of  them." 

"  You've  earned  them ; "  and  Guy  placed  the  letters  in  her 
hands.  "  Give  us  the  news  at  supper,"  he  added,  as  he  left  the 
room. 

Rusha  hesitated  a  moment,  but  Tom's  letter  carried  the  point 
and  was  opened  first.  It  was  in  one  of  his  brightest  moods, 
playful  and  tender,  yet  here  and  there  spoke  out  same  grave 
thought,  some  earnest  feeling,  which,  intertwining  its  life  with 
Tom's  youth,  was  nourishing  that  up  into  the  strong  and  noble 
manhood  that  he  prophesied. 

A  tender  light  was  on  Rusha's  face,  a  faint  smile,  in  which 
was  a  little  hint  of  sadness,  lingered  on  the  bloom  of  that  rare 
and  beautiful  mouth,  when  she  turned  to  Ella's  letter. 

As  she  opened  this,  another,  enclosed,  fell  into  her  lap  ;  but 
she  did  not  pause  even  to  read  the  address,  presuming  that  her 
sister's  would  explain  the  contents  of  the  other. 

The  very  first  line  of  Ella's,  however,  blurred  out  the  smile 
from  Rusha's  face ;  a  strange,  amazed  stare  superseded.  Yet 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  371 

all  the  while  she  kept  reading  on — on — like  one  held  aud  fasci- 
nated by  some  horror. 

When  she  had  finished  she  took  up  the  other  letter,  gazed  at 
it  in  a  bewildered  way,  as  one  is  apt  to,  all  of  whose  faculties 
have  been,  for  the  moment,  stunned  by  some  sudden  shock. 
The  letter  was  addressed  to  her  father  in  a  man's  hand. 

Rusha  rose  up  and  went  to  the  mirror.  What  an  ashy  face 
looked  out  to  her  there  !  "  Ella  married  to  Derrick  Howe  ? '' 
she  murmured  to  herself.  "  I  think  I  must  be  dreaming  ;  "  and 
she  put  her  hand  to  her  forehead,  with  an  expression  of  doubt 
and  helplessness  that  was  touching. 

The  ringing  of  the  supper-bell,  a  moment  later,  roused  her, 
and  she  went  down  stairs,  groping  her  way  carefully  along  the 
banisters  like  one  in  a  dream. 

They  were  just  going  out  into  the  dining-room.  "  Pa,"  said 
Rusha,  in  a  voice  not  loud,  but  somehow  it  made  them  all  puuse 
and  look  at  the  speaker,  "Ella  is  married  —  married  to  Der- 
rick Howe ! " 

It  was  the  crashing  of  a  thunderbolt  in  their  midst.  The 
whole  group  stood  riveted  in  their  places,  staring  at  her. 

Her  mother  spoke  first,  in  a  low,  frightened  tone.  "  Rusha 
has  certainly  gone  crazy  I "  This  seemed  a  more  probable  ver- 
sion of  the  truth  than  the  statement  her  daughter  had  made. 

"  No,"  she  said,  in  a  slow,  doubtful  way,  as  though  she  was 
not  certain  her  mother  might  not  be  right,  "  I  don't  think  it  can 
•be  that.  But  here  are  the  letters,"  instinctively  turning  towards 
her  father. 

"  Let  me  have  them,"  and  he  strode  towards  her. 

John  Darryll  was  a  nervous  man.  He  fairly  tore  the  letters 
out  of  his  daughter's  hands.  He  went  to  the  window,  and  every 
eye  watched  him,  and  every  voice  was  silent,  while  he  ran  over 
the  letters,  not  only  Ella's,  but  the  one  addressed  to  him  by  his 
new  son-in-law,  Derrick  Howe.  Then  he  looked  up. 

"  It's  a  fact,"  he  said.     "  She  is  married  to  Derrick  Howe  ! " 

Aud  then  he  laid  the  letters  on  the  table,  and  struck  his 
clinched  hand  upon  them,  and  cursed  the  newly  wedded  pair 


372  DABRTLL    O^P,    OB 

with  an  oath  that  was  terrible  to  hear.  —  No  sheet-anchor,  you 
see,  when  troubles  thickened  upon  him. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  impossible  to  tell  what  happened  after 
this,  or  how  each  one  took  the  blow.  If  you  have  ever  been 
deceived,  circumvented,  your  pride  and  affection  outraged  by 
anybody  that  was  a  part  of  yourself  and  that  you  trusted  as  im- 
plicitly as  you  loved,  you  will  understand  something  of  their 
feelings  at  this  sudden  revelation  of  Ella's  duplicity.  If  you 
have  never  had  any  such  experience,  thank  God  !  And  yet,  to 
quote  Milverton,  "  All  sorrow  is  a  possession,"  and  I  am  not 
certain  that  we  can  any  of  us  enter  far  into  a  grief  which  we 
h#ve  not,  in  some  sense,  lived. 

Amazement,  horror,  indignation,  held  possession  of  each  of 
them,  as  they  slowly  realized  the  truth,  and,  for  a  time,  these 
feelings  held  the  mastery  over  any  grief  which,  after  all,  would 
have  its  day.  For  the  deed  went  down  to  the  very  quick  of 
their  pride  and  affection.  That  Ella  could  do  her  family  this 
wrong  and  shame  was  the  uppermost  thought  with  all  of  them. 

Viewed  from  the  stand-point  of  the  world,  there  was,  of  course, 
no  disgrace  attached  to  Ella's  marriage,  outside  of  the  irregur 
larity  of  an  elopement,  which  would  make  its  nine  days'  buzz  of 
gossip  in  the  fashionable  world.  Socially  Ella  Darryll  had  not 
lowered  herself  by  wedding  Derrick  Howe.  There  was,  prob- 
ably, in  her  own  set,  hardly  a  girl  who  would  not  envy  her  the 
matrimonial  prize  she  had  drawn.  But  if  there  Avas  any  com- 
fort in  that  fact,  the  Darrylls  were  not  conscious  of  it  at  thfe 
time. 

Easily  biased  in  any  direction,  Mrs.  Darryll  had  partaken  of 
her  husband's  and  Rusha's  strong  prejudice  in  the  young  man's 
disfavor,  although  she  had  seen  very  little  of  him  herself ;  and 
this  feeling  was  shared  by  every  member  of  the  family. 

It  was  a  sad  sight  to  see  the  little  group  discussing,  with 
closed  doors,  lest  the  servants  should  overhear,  the  bitter  trouble 
that  had  fallen  into  their  midst  —  the  mother,  almost  frantic, 
calling  for  her  child,  the  sisters  in  tears,  and  the  father  and  son 
trying  to  control  themselves  for  the  womens'  sake,  but  white 
with  rage  all  the  time. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID, 


373 


"  To  think  of  her  running  off  from  such  a  home,  and  such  a 
father  as  she's  had,  to  marry  that  inhuman  wretch !  0,  my 
poor,  miserable,  wicked  child  !  I'd  rather  have  laid  you  in  the 
grave  !  "  sobbed  her  mother. 

"  And  I've  lost  my  sister,  and  got  him  for  a  brother-in-law — 
that  old,  awful,  horrid  thing !  "  and  -with  this  climax  Agnes 
went  into  another  passion  of  tears. 

"I  wish  I  could  get  my  hands  on  the  villain!"  blazed  up 
Guy,  with  the  quick  heat  of  his  years.  "  There  wouldn't  be 
much  of  him  left.  I'll  do  it,  sir,  hang  me  if  I  don't !  I'll 
take  the  next  train,  and  when  I  come  up  with  him  there  won't 
be  a  sound  boue  left  in  his  body." 

"  O,  Guy,  what  good  would  that  do?  It  wouldn't  bring  Ella 
back,"  said  Rusha,  from  the  corner  where  she  too  was  crying. 

And  his  father's  curt,  "  Yes,  Guy,  don't  make  a  fool  of  your- 
self," considerably  dampened  the  youth's  belligerent  ardor. 

Of  course  everything  in  Ella's  past  conduct  which  could 
throw  any  light  on  the  present  conjunction  of  affairs,  was 
gone  over  now.  Rusha  remembered  and  related  all  that  had 
•  transpired  at  the  party,  when  she  had  so  boldly  confronted 
Derrick  Howe  and  compelled  Ella  to  return  home  without 
him.  But,  with  a  morbid  consciousness,  the  girl  now  bit- 
terly condemned  herself  for  not  laying  the  whole  matter  at  once 
before  her  father.  Nobody,  however,  hearing  the  courage  and 
promptness  with  which  she  had  acted,  was  disposed  t<5  blame 
her. 

They  all  conjectured  at  once,  what  Ella's  letter  did  not  state, 
that  Derrick  Howe  had  been  with  her  at  the  mountains,  and 
her  loss  of  spirits  and  reluctance  at  leaving  home  the  second 
time  were  now  explained.  That,  as  her  letter  affirmed,  she  had, 
at  the  time  of  her  departure,  no  idea  of  the  consummation  into 
which  Derrick  Howe  had  persuaded  her,  they  were  all  con- 
vinced, as  also  that  the  young  man  had  beeu  at  the  bottom  of 
her  absence  during  Tom's  visit ;  which  thought  only  added  fresh 
fuel  to  their  rage  against  him. 

Yet  Ella's  letter  to  her  sister  had,  under  the  circumstances, 
32 


374  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

been  a  model  one.  The  only  justification  which  she  attempt- 
ed for  the  step  she  had  so  reluctantly  taken,  was  her  love  for 
Derrick  Howe,  and  the  utter  hopelessness  of  ever  reconciling 
her  family  to  him,  so  long  as  there  was  a  possibility  of  sep- 
arating them. 

The  haughty  girl  humbly  implored  her  family's  pardon,  and 
entreated  her  sister,  in  language  that  plainly  indicated  her  feel- 
ings must  have  dictated  it,  to  make  her  peace  with  her  father. 

No  fault,  either,  could  be  found  with  Derrick  Howe's  letter 
to  his  new  father-in-law.  He  pleaded  his  own  cause  with  dig- 
nity and  eloquence.  Indeed,  it  did  not  tally  at  all  with  his  plans, 
not  to  have  the  breach  with  his  wife's  family  healed  as  early  as 
possible. 

His  love  for  Ella,  and  the  misery  of  a  future  for  them  both, 
apart  from  each  other,  were  put  in  their  strongest  light,  and  he 
avowed  himself  ready,  by  a  life  of  devotion  to  his  bride,  and  by 
every  regard  to  the  new  relations  with  her  family  which  his 
marriage  involved,  to  atone  for  the  one  wrong  which  he  had 
done  them. 

Derrick  Howe  did  not  believe  all  those  fine  speeches  would^ 
be  wasted ;  but  they  were,  or  worse  —  only  served  to  increase 
the  family  indignation  against  him. 

John  Darryll's  prejudices  were  obstinate  things,  and  Rusha's 
likes  and  dislikes  were  vital,  though  they  usually  were  fouuded 
in  reasons  that  justified  them ;  and  her  clear  intuitions  had 
sounded  Derrick  Howe  as  deeply  as  her  father's  shrewdness. 

"  What  a  miserable  time  she  will  have  with  that  wretch  !  " 
she  broke  out  again  from  the  corner  where  she  was  crouched, 
with  her  pale  face  settled  drearily  on  her  hand,  sharing  in  the 
family  sentiment  that  hanging  and  quartering  were  too  good  for 
her  sister's  husband. 

"  Serve  her  just  right,"  growled  the  father ;  and  there  was 
not  a  deprecating  voice  in  the  room. 

And  again  Rusha  spoke.  "  But,  pa,  we  may  as  well  look  facts 
in  the  face.  "What  are  we  to  do?  Who  is  to  answer  that 
letter?" 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  375 

"I  shall  take  that  business  on  myself,  end  finish  it  up,  too, 
in  a  few  lines.  That  precious  rascal  will  find  that  he  hasn't  got 
into  clover  quite  as  smoothly  as^he  expected  ;"  and  the  rich  man 
laughed  bitterly. 

"  Yes  ;  I  see  all  that  plainly  enough.  It  was  the  money  that 
bought  Ella  her  husband  and  us  this  fresh  misery  ! "  She  spoke 
under  her  breath,  but  for  all  that  everybody  in  the  room  heard 
her. 

"  O,  dear  !  It  always  scares  me  when  you  say  that,  Rusha," 
broke  in  Agnes.  "  It  makes  me  feel  as  though  pa  ought  to  give 
all  his  money  to  the  missionaries  !  " 

It  was  a  proof  that  the  grief  which  had  fallen  on  the  Dar- 
rylls  was  an  overwhelming  one,  that  even  this  suggestion  of 
Agnes  elicited  no  smile  from  any  quarter. 

It  was  a  proof,  too,  how  deeply  Ella  had  outraged  the  feel- 
ings of  her  whole  family,  that  during  that  miserable  night 
not  one  of  them  entered  a  plea  in  her  behalf. 

Even  Mrs.  Darryll  shared  strongly  the  indignation  of  her 
husband,  and  was  willing  that  her  daughter  should  reap  some 
of  the  bitter  fruits  of  her  folly. 

No  doubt  that  in  the  end  mother-love  would  assert  itself,  and 
that  if  a  day  ever  came  when  Ella  should  return  to  her  home 
the  victim  of  her  husband's  neglect  and  wrong,  she  would  find, 
of  all  the  world,  her  mother's  heart  ready  to  welcome  and  shel- 
ter her. 

But  this  feeling  was,  for  the  time,  latent  ia  Mrs.  DarrylPs 
bosom ;  and  when  her  husband  took  all  the  responsibility  off 
their  hands,  and  sternly  forbade  Rusha's  replying  to  her  sister's 
letter,  the  lady  never  entered  one  demur ;  still,  it  was  touching 
enough,  when,  of  a  sudden,  the  truth  seemed  to  come  home  with 
all  its  terrible  force  to  the  mother's  inmost  soul. 

"  He  has  stolen  my  daughter !  I  shall  never  have  my  child 
again !  O !  how  can  I  live  without  my  Ella ! "  she  sobbed 
pkeously. 

It  was  touching,  too,  the  way  the  eldest  and  youngest  daugh- 
ter tried  to  comfort  her. 


376  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

"  Ma,  I'll  never  marry  the  best  man  in  the  world.  I'll  stay 
at  home  with  you  and  pa  always,"  averred  Agnes,  with  solemn 
emphasis. 

So  there  was  another  grief  for  the  family  to  carry,  another 
loss  to  draw  into  closer  union  what  remained  together. 

Yet  the  world,  meddling  with  all  this,  as  it  is  certain  to  do 
with  what  it  knows  nothing  about,  would  have  little  sympathy 
for  the  Darrylls. 

Why  should  they  keep  up  a  pretence  of  anger,  it  would  be 
sure  to  ask,  and  not  receive  Ella  and  her  husband  without  any 
further  show  of  opposition?  She  had  married  well,  certainly, 
and  although  an  elopement  was  not  justifiable,  of  course,  still, 
after  it  was  done,  the  only  thing  that  remained  was  to  make  the 
best  of  it.  Indeed,  what  right  had  the  family,  from  the  begin- 
ning, to  oppose  the  marriage  of  the  young  people,  and  make  the 
elopement  necessary  at  all? 

That  this  would  be  the  common  talk  of  their  acquaintance, 
the  family  clearly  discerned,  and  of  course,  like  all  family 
troubles,  this  one  could  never  be  explained,  and  the  cause  and 
justice  of  their  indignation  shown  to  the  world  —  the  world 
always  springing  to  hasty  conclusions,  always  judging  from  its 
own  prejudices  and  superficial  knowledges. 

Yet,  I  wonder  if  there  does  not  come  a  time  to  all  of  us, 
men  and  women,  no  matter  how  cowardly  and  conventional  we 
are,  when  we,  in  a  sense,  burst  our  chains,  and  put  this  great, 
dreaded  world  beneath  our  feet,  feeling  how  little,  after  all,  its 
verdict  is  worth,  and  how  it  can  never  reach  down  where  our 
life  really  is ! 

Mrs.  Darryll  was  a  strong  illustration  in  point.  Her  own 
rights  —  her  outraged  feelings  —  would  assert  themselves  in 
spite  of  all  the  buzz  and  condemnation  of  Mrs.  Grundy. 

Ella  and  that  husband  of  hers,  whom  she  could  only  think  of 
with  horror  and  loathing,  should  find  the  doors  of  their  home 
closed  against  them. 

Yet  there  was  a  terrible  blank  in  the  household.  Andrew, 
Tom,  and  Ella  took  away  so  much  from  the  bright,  noisy  young 


WEE  TEE  E  IT  PAID.  377 

life  of  the  family,  and  there  was  plenty  of  sadness  and  heartache 
in  the  little  nest  among  the  mountains,  which  looked  as  though 
it  must  be  as  free  from'all  care  and  human  grief  as  those  other 
nests  which  the  singing  birds  hung  in  the  trees  around  it. 

Then  there  came  the  hard  task  of  writing  the  truth  to  Tom, 
a  task  which  devolved  on  Rusha,  and  every  page  of  the  long 
letter  was  blistered  with  her  tears. 

His  reply  was  just  what  a  young  man's  would  be,  shocked 
with  amazement  and  indignation,  with  grief,  too,  at  the  imposi- 
tion which  Ella  had  practised  on  her  family. 

"  After  Andrew,  too  ! "  condensing  in  those  mournful  words 
the  crudest  thought  of  all. 

But  it  was  a  comfort  to  the  family,  whether  acknowledged  or 
not,  that  Tom  fully  approved  of  his  father's  course  in  the  mat- 
ter. Ella  had  brought  down  her  punishment  on  her  own  head. 

And  so  the  stately  summer,  "  filling  the  circuit  of  its  pomp 
and  glory,"  moved  on  among  the  hills.  Outside,  men's  minds 
and  talks  were  full  of  the  impending  nominations  for  the  I'IVM- 
dency,  and  the  very  air  seemed  hurtling  with  excitement ;  and 
so  the  great  drama  of  the  century  moved  on  its  appointed 
path,  bearing  with  it  all  those  unwritten  dramas  of  love  and 
grief  in  the  households  of  a  great  nation,  as  well  as  the  one  of 
which  I  am  trying  to  tell  you. 
82* 


378  DAEBTLL    GAP,    OB 


CHAPTER   XL. 

DOWN  there  in  the  hospitals  the  day  was  drawing  to  a  close 
at  last.  Surgeons  and  nurses  had  their  hands  full,  and  hearts 
too,  if  they  dared  let  these  latter  gain,  for  a  moment,  the  mas- 
tery. The  men  were  busy  bringing  in  the  wounded  and  dying, 
and  depositing  these,  with  a  sort  of  bungling  tenderness,  on  the 
mattresses,  whose  long,  narrow  rows  occupied  both  sides  of  the 
room. 

The  day  had  fainted  down  under  the  dry,  dead  heats,  unusual 
even  for  the  latitude  of  Washington  ;  the  rays  blazing  through 
the  hot  air,  and  fairly  blistering  the  earth  :  if  a  wind  stirred 
outside,  it  was  like  a  breath  from  the  desert,  bringing  neither 
life  nor  coolness  with  it. 

Inside,  the  spectacle  was  ghastly  enough  ;  one  shrinks  from 
pausing  before  it  —  the  mutilated  limbs,  the  groans  and  cries, 
and  the  faces  with  the  awful  shadow  of  death  upon  them,  and 
yet  there  were  brave,  pitying  souls  of  men  who  bore  the  sight 
without  flinching,  and  tender  women  in  their  midst,  who,  for 
"  four  years  rested  the  stricken  nation  upon  their  hearts." 

To  all  the  agony  of  that  time  was  added  the  stinging  con- 
sciousness of  defeat.  At  the  very  moment  of  victory,  delay  of 
some  sort  in  the  support  of  Burnside  had  changed  the  crowning 
success  into  a  triumph  for  the  enemy. 

Nobody  could  tell,  in  the  amazement  and  horror  of  the 
time,  where  the  blame  lay  ;  perhaps  nobody  can  now  ;  but  the 
result  was  clear  enough.  Though  the  immense  army-train, 
which  Grant  had  despatched  across  the  James,  had  completely 
deceived  Lee  regarding  the  point  of  intended  attack,  the  purpose 
of  the  ruse  had  not  been  accomplished,  for  the  Union  army  had 
gained  nothing,  and  lost  nearly  five  thousand  men. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  379 

Dr.  Rochford  had  just  finished  dressing  a  wound,  upon  whose 
immediate  care  hung  a  human  life  as  upon  a  thread,  and  he  was 
turning  to  another  bad  case  close  at  hand,  when  his  glance 
dropped  upon  the  couch  opposite  him.  They  had  laid  some  one 
there  during  his  last  operation  ;  his  glance  went  with  that  swift 
promptness  to  which  long  experience  had  trained  it,  from  the 
officer's  uniform  to  the  face  turned  up  to  the  light  in  white  un- 
consciousness ;  then  the  doctor  started ;  another  look  flashed 
down,  and  he  knew  who  lay  there. 

A  little  quiver  which  nobody  saw  under  the  bearded  lip, 
then,  with  that  swift  professional  instinct  of  his  to  help  and  to 
save,  the  doctor  sprang  forward,  and  tore  away  the  garments 
from  the  breast,  for  he  had  already  divined  where  the  hurt 
was  ;  a  wound  large  and  ragged  and  ugly,  the  long  tearing  of 
a  miuie  ball  into  the  smooth,  white  flesh,  on  the  left  side,  so 
very  near  the  heart ! 

The  doctor  took  it  all  in  with  a  glance,  and  then  he  knew  all 
there  was  to  know.  His  hand  dropped  down  with  a  kind  of 
hopeless  gesture  on  the  coverlet,  and  he  stood  still,  looking  at 
the  young,  silent,  white  face  of  the  officer  there :  this  held  now 
some  wonderful  likeness,  which  he  had  never  felt  before,  to 
another  wild,  appealing  face,  lifted  to  him  out  of  the  darkness 
of  the  night,  and  that  had,  somehow,  held  his  memory  ever  since 
with  some  sweet,  secret  mystery  of  magnetism. 

"  Poor  boy !  poor  boy  !  "  he  said.  There  were  tears  in  his 
voice,  there  were  tears  in  his  eyes  also  ;  all  around  him  lay  the 
wounded  and  dying,  needing  his  help ;  but  for  once,  Fletcher 
Rochford  forgot  them.  Suddenly  Angeline  grasped  his  arm  in 
a  breathless  hurry. 

"  There  are  some  terrible  cases  in  the  next  row.  O,  Fletcher, 
make  haste,  or  the  men  will  die  !  " 

He  looked  down  on  the  face  moved  out  of  all  its  sweet  seren- 
ity by  the  grand  demands  of  the  occasion,  then,  without  speak- 
ing one  word,  he  pointed  to  the  face  on  the  pillow. 

Angeline  Rochford's  eyes  followed  her  brother's  gesture.  In 
a  glance  she  discerned  who  lay  there.  She  covered  her  face 


380  DAEEYLL    GAP,   OR 

with  her  hands  a  moment ;  the  next  it  looked  up  in  a  great  hope 
and  fear. 

"  Is  there  a  chance  for  his  life  ?  " 

"  Not  one,  not  one  !  "  the  words  dry  and  stifled  in  his  throat. 

She  leaned  over  and  smoothed  the  bright  brown  hair  from  the 
young,  white  face,  that  looked  younger  than  ever,  lying  there 
in  that,  awful  whiteness  that  is  the  image  of  death. 

Her  hot  tears  dropped  fast  on  his  cheeks.  "  O,  Tom,"  she 
murmured,  "  Tom,  what  would  they  say  at  home  to  see  you 
lying  here !  " 

The  doctor  was  feeling  the  pulse. 

*'  Must  he  go  out  like  this,  without  any  word  or  sign  for  us 
to  take  back  to  them  ?  "  appealed  his  sister. 

"  I  hope  he  may  revive  for  a  few  moments,  but  I  feared  the 
result  too  strongly  to  attempt  forcing  down  any  cordials,"  bath- 
ing the  blue  temples  with  ice-water. 

Suddenly  there  came  a  change,  and  a  gasp  for  breath.  Tom 
Darryll  opened  his  eyes,  and  looked  with  bright  intelligence 
into  the  faces  of  the  brother  and  sister. 

"  Do  you  know  me,  Tom?  "  asked  the  doctor,  bending  over 
him. 

"  Dr.  Rochford  and  Miss  Angeline.  Am  I  hurt?  O,  yes, 
I  remember  now.  A  bad  wound,  is  it,  doctor?" 

"  A  very  bad  one,  Tom !  "  In  the  presence  of  the  death 
standing  beside  them  there,  he  would  not  hold  back  one  jot  or 
tittle  of  the  truth. 

The  quick,  bright  glance  went  from  one  face  to  the  other. 
The  grief  in  both  answered  the  question  in  his  eyes. 

"  Has  it  come  to  this?  "  asked  Tom  Darryll ;  then  his  whole 
face  quickened,  and  he  cried  out,  "  O,  my  father,  and  mother, 
and  Rusha,  Rusha  —  "  He  got  no  farther  than  that  dearest 
name  of  all. 

"  Tom,"  said  the  doctor,  mastering  his  voice  as  he  best  could, 
for  his  profession  had  not  hardened  the  native  softness  of  the 
man's  heart,  "  Tom,  it  is  the  Lord  only  who  can  comfort  you 
and  them  now  !  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  33 j 

The  young  officer  looked  up  eagerly,  and  as  the  thought  pen- 
etrated his  soul,  a  new,  solemn  calmness  gathered  over  his  face. 
His  eyes  closed  a  moment.  When  he  opened  them,  there  was 
a  smile  on  his  lips  more  beautiful  than  any  smile  which,  in  their 
flush  of  youth  and  health,  they  had  ever  worn. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "He  comforts  me  now  —  He  can  comfort 
them  also !  " 

Angeline  bent  over  him,  straining  back  her  sobs  to  catch 
every  word. 

"  And,  Tom,  you  are  ready  to  go,  seeing  He  calls  you?" 

"  Yes,  ready.  It  came  sudden,  you  know,  and  it  comes  hard, 
too,  for  a  young  fellow  like  me  to  give  up  life  like  this  ;  but  it 
isn't  the  first  time  I've  looked  it  in  the  face."  • 

And  now  Dr.  Rochford  leaned  over  and  spoke,  with  that  sol- 
emn radiance  upon  his  face  which  only  visited  it  at  the  rarest 
and  greatest  heights  of  his  life. 

"  Tom,  I  look  forward  to  the  time  when  I  shall  lie  where 
you  do,  as  the  fairest,  sweetest,  as  the  happiest  and  joyfulest, 
as  the  one  triumphant  moment  of  my  life !  There  are  times 
when  I  count  the  years  that  are  past,  and  thank  God  that  by  so 
many  that  are  gone  I  am  nearer  Him  ;  and  now  I  can  almost 
find  it  in  my  heart  to  envy  you  !  " 

The  eyes,  bright  with  their  last  brightness,  looked  up  in  the 
doctor's  face,  and  again  that  smile  of  marvellous  beauty  upon 
the  dying  lips.  Tom  understood.  In  a  moment  he  roused  once 
more. 

"  TV  ill  you  find  my  Bible,  on  my  right  side,  and  the  picture 
in  it  ?  I  should  like  to  see  that  the  last  thing." 

The  doctor  searched  and  found  it.  They  set  it  before  him, 
with  the  picture  inside,  smiling  down  on  him  in  the  sweet  glad- 
ness of  its  youth.  Tom  gazed  on  it  with  unutterable  tender- 
ness in  his  look. 

"  Poor  Rusha  !  "  he  said.  "  The  book  was  her  gift,  and  I 
owe  all  that's  good  in  me,  all  the  blessedness  of  this  hour,  under 
God,  to  her  alone.  Tell  her  I  said  so  ;  and  tell  her  I  charged 
her  never  to  fret  herself  with  a  thought  that  she  sent  me  to  the 


382  DAEEYLL    GAP,    OE 

war,  or  that  it  was  through  her  means  I  carne  to  this.  You'll 
tell  her,  doctor?" 

"  Every  word  ;  God  is  my  witness  —  every  word,  Tom." 

"  Tell  the  boys,  too,  I  left  'em  good  by,  and  a  charge  to  take 
Tom's  place  to  father  and  mother.  They  mustn't  be  too  hard 
on  Ella  —  "  And  again  the  faintness  of  the  death  drawing  near 
overcame  speech  and  consciousness. 

Contrary  almost  to  the  expectation  of  those  who  watched  by 
the  bedside,  Tom  rallied  again. 

"  Give  my  love  to  each  one  at  home.  It'll  come  hardest  on 
mother  and  Rusha.  Poor  Rusha,  she'll  have  nobody  to  talk  to 
and  comfort  her  after  I'm  gone !  "  his  last  thought  and  anxi- 
ety going  after  her.,  the  dearest  love,  you  could  see  now,  of 
his  life. 

"  Tom,"  said  the  doctor,  solemnly,  "  I'll  do  all  I  can  to  take 
your  place  to  Rusha." 

Tom's  smile  thanked  him ;  and  then  a  messenger  from  the 
surgeons  pressed  up. 

"  There  are  fresh  cases  coming  in  all  the  time,  and  the  doc- 
tors have  more  than  they  can  do,  and  the  men  will  die  if  their 
wounds  are  not  dressed." 

And  Dr.  Rochford  answered  —  "I'll  be  there  in  a  mo- 
ment." 

"Don't  wait  for  me,  doctor.  You  may  save  some  poor  fel- 
low's life,  and  it's  too  late  to  do  mine  any  good." 

Under  the  circumstances,  this  was  a  command  that  Fletcher 
Rochford  could  not  disobey.  He  leaned  down  and  kissed  the 
cold  lips.  • 

"  Good  by,  Tom ;  we  shall  meet  and  know  each  other  in  a 
little  while  —  at  the  farthest,  a  very  little  while." 

"  Good  by  !"  It  was  the  final  one,  but  the  voice  rang  out 
clear  and  exultant. 

So  Dr.  Rochford  turned  away,  and  left  his  sister  watching 
alone  with  death  by  the  bedside.  It  was  the  hardest  moment  of 
his  life,  but  the  dying  sent  and  the  living  called  him. 

Tom's  eyes  closed,  and  Angeline  thought  he  was  lapsing  into 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


383 


unconsciousness,  until  she  saw  bis  lips  move  in  a  secret  prayer. 
When  he  looked  at  her  again,  the  last  dimness  was  gathering  in 
them.  His  hand  groped  for  hers. 

"  How  good  God  was  to  Bring  you  both  to  me  at  this  time ! 
I  shall  thank  Him  for  it  again  when  I  get  home."  And  a  little 
while  afterwards  he  murmured,  "  '  There  is  no  other  name  given 
under  heaven  whereby  man  can  be  saved.'  Rusha  said  I  should 
find  some  new  meaning  and  sweetness  in  these  passages,  but 
they  open  widest  and  sweetest  at  such  a  moment  as  this." 

"  And,  Tom,"  said  Angeline,  anxious  to  lay  up  in  her  memory 
every  dying  word  to  carry  far  away  to  the  north,  and  drop  their 
clew  and  balm  into  the  broken  hearts  there,  "  He  is  all  your  trust 
and  peace  now  ?  " 

"All.  I  have  been  trying  to  follow  Him  during  these  last 
months,  and  so  He  has  come  to  me  now." 

The  death-shadow  gathered  its  awful  darkness  over  his  face. 
Angeline  had  watched  by  too  many  dying  bedsides  not  to 
know  it. 

Tom's  voice  grew  fainter.  "  Put  the  book  and  the  picture  a 
little  closer,  so  I  can  see  it  to  the  very  last,"  he  said. 

She  moved  them  nearer.  She  put  her  wet  cheek  down  to  his, 
and  prayed  softly,  and  he  listened  with  his  eyes  still  clinging  to 
the  picture,  and  his  hand  clasped  in  hers. 

"When  she  paused  at  last,  he  whispered,  faintly,  "  Go  on," 
and  a  calm  came  upon  her.  She  paused  again  ;  "  and  he  did 
not  speak.  She  called  him,  and  he  did  not  awaken !  " 

In  a  few  minutes  the  doctor  returned.  Angeline  looked  up, 
a  smile  struggling  through  her  tears. 

"  It  does  not  look  like  death,"  she  said,  and  then  he  knew ! 

Truly  it  did  not,  the  doctor  thought,  as  he  gazed  on  the  still 
peace  of  the  young,  dead  face ;  fhe  faint  smile  clinging  still  to 
the  bearded  lip,  while  just  over  it  shone  down  that  other  pictured 
face  in  its  radiance  of  youth  and  hope.  What  awful  darkness 
of  grief  was  waiting  to  settle  down  upon  it !  and  then,  as  Dr. 
Eochford  thought  of  this,  the  memory  of  Tom's  words  came 
back  to  him  —  "  She  will  have  nobody  to  comfort  her !  " 


384  DARRTLL    GAP,    OR 

She  had  loved  the  dead  boy  lying  there  better  than  all  the  world 
beside  —  the  doctor,  knew  that,  and  there  was  no  one  of  the 
stricken  household  to  help  the  desolate  girl  through  the  hour 
of  her  great  anguish. 

"  Angeline,"  said  the  doctor,  suddenly,  "  you  heard  me  say 
I  was  going  north  next  week.  I  shall  start  to-morrow  morn- 
ing." 

She  understood  what  that  meant.  Then  the  brother  and  sis- 
ter leaned  over  and  closed  the  eyes  softly,  as  Tom's  own  mother 
and  sister  could  have  done,  and  left  the  young  soldier  lying 
there,  and  went  to  their  work  again. 

The  Darryll  household  was  but  one  among  the  many  whose 
flower  of  youth  and  pride  dropped  suddenly.  Everywhere  it 
was  the  bravest  and  the  best  beloved  who  went  down  as  the 
ploughshare  drove  along  the  soil  of  those  awful  four  years. 

"  How  long,  O  God,  how  long !  "  Dr.  Rochford's  soul  had 
asked,  as  all  our  souls  did,  travailing  through  the  years  with  that 
cry,  and  beyond  another  winter,  among  the  blossoms  and  singing 
birds  of  another  spring  waited  His  answer  of  victory  and  peace  ! 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


385 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

MR.  DAERYLL  hurried  into  his  office  that  morning  with  his 
sharpest  business  face  and  air.  A  large  amount  of  work  must 
be  settled  up  that  day,  as,  in  the  evening,  he  was  to  start  for  the 
mountains  for  a  long  vacation,  all  his  previous  ones  having  been 
of  the  intermittent  sort. 

A  telegram,  which  had  been  brought  in  a  few  moments  before, 
lay  among  the  letters  on  his  desk.  He  tore  this  open  first, 
throwing  a  glance,  meanwhile,  along  the  others,  and  his  office 
clerk  waited  at  his  elbow  for  orders.  Suddenly  the  rnau's  hand 
dropped  down  on  the  table  as  though  a  swift  paralysis  had  smit- 
ten it.  His  face  turned  to  an  ashen  pallor ;  the  clerk  sprang 
forward,  fearing  the  man  would  fall,  and  met  the  stare  of  the 
first  shock,  and  heard  the  groan  —  "  My  boy  is  killed  !  " 

Three  days  later,  Rusba  Darryll  opened  the  front  door  of  the 
cottage,  and  came  out  on  the  veranda.  She  walked  with  a  slow, 
faint  step,  like  that  of  an  old  woman,  and  there  was  something 
in  her  face,  as  she  lifted  it  up  and  looked  at  the  mountains,  which 
would  have  brought  tears  into  any  eyes.  Yet  there  was  no 
suggestion  of  these  in  hers.  White,  drawn,  rigid,  with  some- 
thing almost  defiant  in  its  look,  it  faced  the  mountains  a  moment, 
and  then  she  went  down  the  gravelled  walk,  still  with  that  slow, 
faint  step,  all  the  spring  of  its  youth  gone,  as  though  age  had 
suddenly  come  down  and  palsied  it. 

Two  days  before,  her  father  had  brought  the  tidings.  They 
seemed  to  have  stunned,  frozen  the  life  within  her.  In  all  this 
time  she  had  not  shed  one  tear.  A  hard,  silent,  unutterable 
agony  of  despair  had  taken  possession  of  her.  She  had  heard 
Guy  and  Agnes  sob  like  one  in  a  dream.  Even  her  father's 
ashen  face,  and  her  mother  going  from  one  fainting  fit  into 
33 


386  DABBYLL    GAP,    OR 

another,  had  failed  to  move  her.  All  power  of  emotion  seemed 
paralyzed  within  her.  All  the  springs  of  her  hope  and  trust 
failed  now.  God  seemed  no  more  the  kind  and  loving  Father 
on  whose  tender  care  she  could  lean  the  deepest  sorrows  and 
darkest  mysteries  of  her  life,  but  a  Fate  dark  and  pitiless  as  the 
Greeks'.  In  its  anguish  her  soul  did  not  call  on  Him,  and 
through  the  darkness  she  did  not  hear  His  voice. 

She  sat  still,  in  a  sort  of  death  in  life,  one  consciousness  only, 
ever  present  with  her.  Tom,  her  joy,  her  love,  her  dear  delight, 
was  dead.  She  should  never  see  him  more  —  never  hear  his 
voice  speak  to  her  again  !  Yet,  thinking  over  all  this,  she  did 
not  shed  one  tear. 

At  last  the  stricture  of  heart  and  brain  became  intolerable. 
It  would  probably  have  killed  her  in  a  little  while.  And  so, 
with  a  sort  of  blind  instinct,  she  had  groped  her  way  out  of  the 
darkened  house  into  the  light. and  warmth  of  the  summer  day. 

Nature  and  the  soul  of  this  girl  were,  as  you  have  seen,  in 
finest  sympathy.  Her  dumbest  gi'ief,  her  sharpest  pang,  had 
always  found  here  the  mystery  of  comfort  and  healing. 

But  now  all  these  failed  her.  The  mountains,  to  which  she 
lifted  those  eyes,  dry  and  aching  with  their  burden  of  unshed 
tears,  stood  there  in  their  strength  and  silence,  with  no  help  for 
her.  The  sunlight,  filling  the  day  with  its  light  and  gladness, 
only  mocked  her.  She  went  on,  like  one  half  awake,  the  slow, 
heavy  steps  taking  the  way,  from  mere  force  of  habit,  down 
to  the  thicket  in  the  edge  of  the  woods,  where  she  had  come 
in  that  first  blissful  hour  of  her  summer  at  the  mountains  —  the 
summer  that  had  fallen  into  this  thick  darkness  ! 

She  heard  the  birds  singing  just  as  they  did  that  day,  and  the 
happy  humming  of  the  water  in  the  crevices  of  the  rock.  She 
laid  her  head  down  on  the  cool  grass,  the  hard,  despairing  agony 
still  holding  brain  and  heart.  Who  should  loosen  it?  She 
looked  up  to  the  peaceful  sky,  and  found  no  answer  there. 

"  O  God,"  prayed  the  dry,  unquivering  lips,  "  you  have  taken 
away  my  life,  my  love,  my  darling !  I  want  nothing  more  in 
your  world  here.  Smite  me,  too,  and  let  me  die  now,  and  be 
buried  by  his  side  !  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAW.  337 

No  cry  for  mercy,  no  love,  no  resignation  in  her  prayer, 
only  desperation  and  a  longing  for  the  forgetfuluess  of 
death ! 

And  she  sat  there,  with  her  hands  folded,  and  her  drawn, 
rigid  face  above  them,  waiting  for  the  answer ;  and  the  stream 
trilled  on,  and  the  winds  laughed  among  the  leaves  overhead, 
and  that  was  all ;  and  swayiug  up  and  down,  her  thoughts  went 
with  the  lines  of  a  song  she  had  seen  somewhere,  — 

"  Through  heart  wreck  and  home  wreck 
Thy  happy  swallows  sing." 

It  might  have  been  half  an  hour  after  Rusha  had  passed  out 
of  it  that  the  cottage  gate  was  opened  softly  again,  and  Dr. 
Rochford  stood  still  a  moment,  regarding  the  house  with  a  kind 
of  sorrowful  earnestness.  The  darkened  windows,  the  utter 
silence,  told  him  that  the  news  had  preceded  him.  His  glance 
swept  the  glory  of  the  landscape  around,  —  one  of  those  glances 
that  did  it  recognition  and  reverence,  —  and  then  he  went  up  to 
the  house. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  his  summons  was  answered.  The 
servant  seemed  disposed  to  guard  the  house  vigilantly  from  all 
intrusion.  "  There  was  nobody  at  home  to  receive  company," 
she  said,  evidently  supposing  he  was  some  guest  who  had  ram- 
bled off  from  the  hotels.  "  Two  days  before  they  had  had  news 
of  Master  Tom's  death,  and  they  were  in  very  deep  grief." 

The  maid's  manner  would  have  been  inhospitable,  if  a  quiver- 
ing of  her  lip  over  the  last  words  had  not  excused  all  that. 

Dr.  Rochford  hesitated  a  moment.  II«  felt  a  strong  desire 
to  communicate  Tom's  messages  first  to  the  dearest  of  his  sis- 
ters ;  and  if  he  announced  himself  and  his  errand,  that  would, 
of  course,  be  impossible.  On  the  impulse  of  this  feeling  he 
spoke :  — 

"  I  think,  if  you  will  give  this  to  Miss  Rusha,  she  will  grant 
me  an  interview." 

The  girl  did  not  so  much  as  glance  at  the  card. 

"  Miss  Rusha  is  not  at  home.     I  saw  her  go  off  into  the  woods 


388  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

yonder,  half  an  hour  ago.  She  is  quite  too  cut  up  to  be  able  to 
see  anybody,  sir." 

This  was  virtually  a  dismissal.  The  doctor  turned  away 
without  further  parley,  and  the  door  closed.  He  had  observed 
the  direction  in  which  the  girl's  gesture  pointed,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  go  in  search  of  her  young 
mistress.  So  he  followed  the  road,  and  struck  up  into  the  lit- 
tle wood-path,  praying  —  it  was  his  habit  to  do  this  in  the  little 
things  as  well  as  the  great  ones  of  life  —  that  he  might  not 
lose  her. 

Rusha  Darryll,  sitting  there  motionless,  with  her  dry,  glitter- 
ing eyes  on  the  hands  clasped  in  her  lap,  heard  a  footfall  near 
her.  She  turned  slowly,  and  the  absence  of  all  the  swift,  ner- 
vous gesture,  so  natural  to  her,  indicated  to  a  keen  observer, 
like  the  doctor,  how  deep  the  hurt  had  gone.  She  saw  him 
looking  down  on  her  with  a  great  solicitude  in  his  eyes.  A 
little  surprise  stole  into  the  blank  of  her  face.  There  was  a 
movement  of  the  muscles  about  the  set  lips.  She  tried  to  say 
something,  but  there  was  a  dry,  husky  sound,  without  any  audi- 
ble articulation. 

"  Rusha !  "  exclaimed  the  doctor,  startled  out  of  all  formali- 
ties of  salutation  by  the  look  in  her  face. 

The  bright,  dry  eyes  kept  themselves  on  his  still. 

"  Do  you  know  ?  "  she  managed  to  ask  now. 

"  Yes.     I  knew  before  you  did.     I  was  with  him  !  " 

A  little  tremor  then  ran  over  the  death-like  calm  of  her  face. 
He  must  do  something  to  break  that  up  at  once.  He  wondered, 
with  her  fine,  nervous  fibre,  that  she  had  borne  the  strain  as  long 
I  as  she  had.  It  must  end  soon  in  madness  or  death  ;  and  as  he 
looked  and  realized  all  the  agony  she  must  have  undergone,  to 
set  that  starkness  in  the  swift  mobility  of  her  face,  there  came 
a  dew  of  tears  into  the  strong  man's  eyes. 

She  looked  at  him.  There  was  a  faint  quiver  on  her  lip  he 
thought. 

"  How  came  you  here?"  she  said;  but  there  was  no  active 
curiosity,  such  as  one  would  look  for  under  the  circumstances. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


389 


No  matter  if  his  answers  seemed  cruel,  if  they  only  roused 
her  out  of  this. 

Tom  left  me  some  last  messages  for  you.     I  thought  that 
I  could  bring  them  better  than  I  could  write  them.     So°I  have 
come,"  sitting  down  beside  her  on  the  grass. 
^  Her  face  moved  a  little  out  of  its  blank  then.     It  was  the 
first  real  sign  of  life  he  had  seen  there. 

"  It  was  very  kind.     It  was  more  than  that.     I  wish  I  could 
thank  you,"  she  said. 
He  took  her  hand. 

" How  long  have  you  been  like  this,  my  child?" 
She  put  her  hand  to  her  head,  in  a  doubtful  way. 
"  I  don't  know,  but  it  is  ever  since  I  heard  —  that  seems  a 
whole  lifetime  ago." 

It  was  likely  to  prove  a  "  whole  lifetime  "  in  its  effects  on  a 
temperament  like  hers.  She  must  have  read  his  anxiety  in  his 
eyes,  for  she  said,  pushing  away  her  hair  from  her  forehead  — 
the  old  habit,  only  a  little  slower,  — 

"  I  wish  I  could  cry  ;  but  I  can't  shed  a  single  tear.  I  don't 
think  I  ever  shall  again." 

"  Rusha,"  asked  the  doctor,  "  have  you  carried  this  greatest 
grief  to  God?" 

She  shook  her  head,  the  dreary  despair  darkening  all  over 
her  countenance. 

"  I  can't  find  Him  ! "  Then  she  looked  up  again  suddenly. 
"  Sometimes  those  words  that  you  said  to  me  down  there  on 
the  sea  shore  have  come  back,  and  ring  through  my  thoughts  — 
'  O  God,  if  there  be  a  God  ! '  They  made  me  shudder  then, 
but  I  have  been  asking  myself  that  question  all  these  days  and 
nights ! " 

She  evidently  thought  them  many  more  than  they  were. 
"  Tom  did  not  ask  that  when  death  came  and  stood  face  to 
face  with  him.     He   only  smiled  like   a  conqueror,  and  said, 
'  God  comforted  him,  and  would  comfort  you  also  ! ' ' 

Her  face  moved  now.     Better  see  it  torn  up  into  any  wild 
passion  of  grief  than  in  that  dead  rigidness. 
33* 


390  DARETLL    GAP,   OR 

"  0,  did  Tom  say  that?  "  she  gasped,  and  there  was  a  change 
in  her  voice. 

"  Yes ;  and  went  to  rest  in  that  thought,  in  peace  and  tri- 
umph, surer  of  God's  love  than  he  was  of  yours  —  even  of 
yours !  " 

"  O,  if  I  could  only  believe,  only  know  that  —  that  God 
loved  him,  that  Tom  was  really  happy  with  Him  now  —  that  I 
should  go  and  see  him  one  of  these  days  !  But  it  is  all  so  dark, 
and  cold,  and  hard.  Help  me,  Dr.  Rochford,  if  you  can !  " 

Her  face,  in  its  struggle  and  agony  of  appeal,  was  pitiful  to 
behold.  It  moved  some  deep  in  the  soul  of  Fletcher  Rochford 
that  had  never  been  stirred  before.  He  judged  wisely  of  the 
best  way  to  answer  her.  He  took  the  soft,  small  hands  in  his, 
as  if  they  had  been  the  hands  of  a  little  child,  and  he  went  over 
that  whole  last  hour  of  Tom's  life,  and  she  hung  breathless 
upon  every  word,  as  though  it  was  for  her  own  life,  her  face 
starting  more  and  more  out  of  its  frozen  look,  until  the  doctor 
knew  that  the  springs  would  break  up  in  a  little  while,  and 
thanked  God  for  the  knowledge. 

The  moment  that  he  paused,  the  long  strain  gave  way.  The 
reaction  was  terrible.  It  would  have  frightened  a  man  less 
prepared  for  it  than  was  Dr.  Rochford.  Such  a  wild -pas- 
sion of  tears  and  sobs  as  shook  the  delicate  body,  the  tender 
soul !  He  did  not  try  to  check,  hardly  to  soothe  them.  He 
knew  that  it  was  the  great  physician  Nature's  way  of  healing 
for  her  ;  but  his  utter  impotence  of  help,  in  that  dreadful  hour, 
left  him  only  more  time  for  pity  for  the  poor,  anguish-riven  soul 
before  him  —  a  pity  which  held  some  element  of  yearning  ten- 
derness such  as  he  had  never  felt  for  all  those  suffering  souls 
and  bodies  of  men  and  women  by  whom  Dr.  Rochford  had 
watched  and  waited. 

It  took  a  whole  hour  for  the  storm  to  expend  itself.  During 
this  time  he  had  hardly  spoken  to  her,  except  sometimes  in  a 
low  whisper,  much  like  a  mother's  '  Hush,'  with  his  hand  touch- 
ing her  hair,  or  arm,  and  the  words  did  not  go  farther  than 
"  My  child  —  my  poor  child  ; "  and  past  all  her  utter  loss  of 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  391 

self-control,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  unnatural  calm 
which  had  held  her  so  long,  Rusha  felt  the  pity  of  the  doctor's 
voice,  even  though  she  could  not  have  repeated  his  words. 

As  the  passionate  grief  quieted,  it  left  her  weak  as  an  infant. 
He  had  been  on  too  many  battle-fields  for  the  last  year  and  a 
half  not  to  be  familiar  with  all  sorts  of  expedients  for  emer- 
gencies, and  he  had  that  swift  promptness  of  eye  and  hand  to 
which  life  is  always  affording  occasion.  He  laid  Rusha  Dar- 
ryll  down  on  the  grass,  and  improvised  a  cup  out  of  two  mullein 
leaves,  filled  this  with  cool  water  from  the  spring,  and  bathed 
her  temples. 

She  was  too  exhausted  to  observe  or  wonder  much  —  to  be 
anything,  in  short,  but  obedient  as  a  child,  and  the  old  child-like 
lines  had  come  back  to  her  face  now  —  the  hardness  and  immo- 
bility all  gone. 

Once  she  looked  up  in  his  face,  and  said,  — 

"  I  thought  I  should  die  just  now  !  " 

"  O,  no,  Rusha.  This  has  saved  you  from  a  brain  fever.  It 
was  a  cruel  remedy,  my  child,  but  I  knew  it. was  the  only  one." 

Then  he  bent  down,  smoothing  the  rumpled  hair  with  a 
touch  that  many  a  poor,  crippled  man  had  affirmed  was  soft  as 
his  own  mother's. 

"  Rusha,"  he  said,  "  do  you  remember  what  I  told  you  of  a 
promise  I  made  Tom,  just  before  he  left  us?" 

She  looked  up  ;  no  dry  glitter  in  her  eyes,  only  a  soft  mist  of 
tears.  The  lip  struggled  with  a  softness,  too,  sweeter  than  even 
its  smile. 

"  I  remember,"  she  said. 

"  But  I  cannot  keep  it,  unless  you  grant  me  the  right,  not 
even  though  dying,  he  gave  me  his  !  " 

There  was  a  silent  moment,  not  only  as  regarded  words,  but 
any  movement  on  her  part.  Then  she  turned  her  face  away, 
but  she  put  her  hand  in  his. 

"  Some  time  I  shall  try  to  thank  you,"  she  said. 

There  was  no  need  of  further  speech  on  either  side.  He  tool 
her  act  for  just  what  it  meant,  and  quietly,  but  at  once,  set 


392  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

about  fulfilling  the  conditions  which  his  covenant  with  the  liv- 
ing and  the  dead  involved. 

The  first  article  in  Dr.  Rochford's  medical  creed  was  to 
give  nature,  as  far  as  possible,  the  charge  of  his  patients  ;  and 
he  used  often  to  aver  that  he  wore  his  professional  laurels  un- 
worthily ;  that  the  "  wonderful  cures  "  for  which  men  gave  him 
credit  were  due  mostly  to  the  great  Mother  to  whose  hands  he 
had  committed  them. 

He  saw  now  that  Rusha  Darryll,  in  her  present  exhaustion 
of  body  and  mind,  needed  perfect  rest.  For  three  days  and 
nights  she  had  not  slept  at  all.  The  only  wonder  was,  that  life 
and  reason  had  borne  what  had  been  laid  on  them  so  long ;  but, 
for  all  its  sensitiveness,  a  good  deal  of  endurance  inhered  in  a 
nervous  enfibrement  like  hers.  The  first  thing  now  was  to  get  her 
home  —  not  an  easy  matter  in  her  present  condition,  and  half  a 
mile  to  get  over.  The  doctor  considered  a  moment,  then  brought 
from  the  spring  a  fresh  draught  of  water,  into  which  he  poured 
some  drops  from  a  bottle  of  the  case  he  always  carried  with  him. 

It  seemed  cruel  to  disturb  the  white,  tired  face  on  the  grass  ; 
but  like  a  great  many  other  apparently  cruel  things  in  life,  it 
would  be  mercy  in  the  end,  and  the  doctor  spoke  —  the  voice 
gentle  as  possible,  but  firm  for  all  that. 

"  Now,  Rusha,  you  will  listen  to  what  I  say?  " 

"  Yes,"  the  monosyllable  weak  and  weary  enough. 

"  It  is  important  that  you  should  get  home  at  once,  and  have 
the  rest  that  you  need.  I  do  not  like  to  leave  you  long  enough 
to  go  for  a  carriage,  and  there  is  no  one  within  call.  This 
draught  will  give  you  strength  for  a  few  minutes,  and  you  must 
try  to  get  home  on  it.  If  you  cannot,  I  must  carry  you." 

He  knew  that  this  ultimatum  would  be  likely  to  impel  her  to 
the  utmost  exertion,  and  that  there  were  also,  as  she  had  proved 
in  more  than  one  trying  crisis  of  her  life,  great  latent  forces  in 
her  will.  A  moment  before,  it  had  seemed  to  Rusha  Darryll 
as  though,  if  her  life  depended  on  it,  she  could  not  have  lifted 
her  head  from  the  bed  of  dried  grasses  where  it  lay,  so  utter 
was  the  exhaustion  that  followed  that  long  weeping ;  but  as  the 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  393 

draught  began  to  take  effect,  she  made  the  effort,  and  with  the 
doctor's  help  tottered  to  her  feet. 

Too  exhausted  now,  for  any  will  or  purpose  of  her  own,  she 
was  obliged  to  let  him  think  for  her,  and  followed  his  sugges- 
tions implicitly.  It  was  a  long  walk  home  for  both  of  them. 
The  doctor  expected  every  moment  that  her  strength  would 
utterly  fail  her.  Indeed,  she  could  not  have  stood  a  moment 
without  his  support. 

At  last  they  reached  the  house,  and  at  the  door  they  met  Mr. 
Darryll,  who,  having  learned  of  his  daughter's  absence,  had 
become  seriously  alarmed,  and  was  just  starting  out  in  search 
of  her. 

The  strongest  proof  of  the  grief  which  had  overwhelmed  the 
family  was  afforded  by  the  fact  that  Rusha's  condition  for  the 
last  three  days  had  not  awakened  their  apprehension. 

Dr.  Rochford  was  shocked  to  see  how  the  brisk,  bustling 
man  had  aged.  His  look  of  amazement  on  recognizing  the 
physician  changed  to  one  of  alarm  as  he  saw  his  daughter. 
Dr.  Rochford  explained  and  prescribed  in  a  few  words. 
They  must  get  her  to  bed  without  delay ;  he  trusted  no  serious 
consequences  would  follow  if  she  could  have  plenty  of  rest,  but 
that  was  imperative. 

Then  Rusha  spoke,  clinging  to  her  father  —  "  He  was  with 
Tom  at  the  last,  and  he  has  come  away  here  to  tell  us  all 
about  it ! " 

The  strong  man's  face  worked  as  he  turned  and  fairly  clutched 
the  other's  hand ;  but  Rusha  was  clinging  to  her  father  with  a 
sort  of  drowning  grasp.  So  he  pointed  the  doctor  to  the  open 
parlor  door,  and  then,  lifting  his  daughter,  carried  her  up  stairs, 
while  the  physician  found  a  glass  and  prepared  her  a  sleeping 
draught,  which  he  gave  to  the  servant  whom  he  summoned. 

In  a  few  minutes  Mr.  Darryll  returned  and  closed  the  door. 
The  doctor's  orders  had  been  implicitly  obeyed,  but  that  had 
not  quieted  the  father's  newly-aroused  anxiety. 

«  Rusha  and  Tom  were  the  dearest  of  my  children,"  he  said 
hoarsely,  as  he  grasped  the  doctor's  hand  again, 
lose  both  of  them  ?  " 


394  DABRJLL    GAP,    OB 

The  doctor's  reply  allayed  the  father's  worst  fears,  and  then 
the  two  men  sat  down  together,  and  Fletcher  Rochford  told  Mr. 
Darryll  all  there  was  to  tell  of  that  last  hour  of  his  son's  life  — 
a  harrowing  story  for  any  father  to  hear ;  and  yet  what  peace 
lighted  all  its  darkness,  and  took  the  worst  sting  from  its  bit- 
terness ! 

It  was,  indeed,  a  "  house  of  mourning"  to  which  the  doctor 
had  come.  There  were  others  all  over  the  land  shrouded  in 
just  that  same  darkness  of  death,  but  that  did  not  make  the 
anguish  of  this  one  less  bitter. 

The  doctor  had  to  go  over  the  scene  again  by  poor  Mrs.  Dar- 
ryll's  bedside,  with  Guy  and  Agnes  listening  this  time,  the  two 
young  things  quite  broken-hearted  with  grief.  Death  was 
something  new  to  both  of  them.  It  had  never  entered  their 
household  before  ;  and  though  it  had  touched  others  all  around 
them,  still  each  of  us  knows  how  different  that  is  from  the 
death  that  comes  to  our  own  homes  and  hearts. 

Some  delicate  insight,  or  some  rare  gift  of  speech,  gave  Dr. 
Rochford  a  wonderful  power  over  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
those  who  went  mourning  and  would  not  be  comforted. 

Those  whom  he  had  helped  to  lift  up  from  a  great  deep  of 
sorrow,  frequently  embodied,  in  a  homely  way,  their  sense  of  his 
power,  by  remarking  that  "  he  somehow  knew  just  the  right 
word  to  say,  and  when  to  say  it."  But  there  was  that  in  the 
man's  personality  which  must  have  made  itself  felt  anywhere. 

Grief  had  brought  the  Darryll  household  into  a  state  of  moral 
susceptibility  such  as  nothing  else  could  have  done.  The  pride, 
and  shows,  and  pomp,  all  the  material  things  in  which  their 
souls  had  found  delight,  must,  at  this  hour,  take  somewhat 
of  their  true  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  mourners. 

The  doctor  did  not  preach  any  sermon,  nor  go  into  any  long 
moral  dissertations  ;  but  each  one  felt,  as  never  before,  that  there 
was  some  secret  in  life  and  death  which  they  had  not  taken 
account  of,  and  that  it  had  made  Tom's  dying  hour  what  they 
would  have  their  own. 

Dr.  Rochford  had  intended  to  leave  the  next  morning ;  but 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  395 

Rusha  was  not  yet  awakened,  and  her  father,  though  she  had 
passed  a  comfortable  night,  feared  some  serious  result  from  all 
she  had  undergone,  and  the  doctor,  on  his  part,  was  not  without 
apprehensions. 

Then  Mrs.  Darryll's  condition  required  medical  attendance, 
and  everybody  clung  to  the  doctor,  and  he  could  not  resist  the 
united  entreaties  of  the  family  ;  so  he  engaged,  at  last,  to  remain 
for  a  day  or  two,  not  suspecting  how  much  he,  too,  needed  the 
change  and  rest,  nor  how  his  naturally  fine  constitution  had 
been  taxed  to  its  utmost  capacity  of  endurance. 

During  the  morning  of  the  next  day,  the  doctor  went  out  on 
the  verandas  for  an  interview  with  the  landscape.  Half  an 
hour  later,  Agnes  came  to  him. 

"  She  is  awake,"  she  said,  with  some  doubt  in  her  face. 
"  But  when  I  found  her  eyes  wide  open,  looking  at  me,  and 
asked  '  Have  you  just  waked  up,  Rusha?'  she  answered,  '  O, 
no  ;  I've  been  awake  for  two  hours.'  It  seemed  strange,  but  I 
didn't  go  to  pa  with  it,  lest  it  should  alarm  him.  He's  been  up 
stairs  every  few  minutes  this  morning,  looking  at  her." 

"  I  will  see  her  at  once,"  answered  the  doctor,  withholding 
any  expression  of  his  opinion,  if,  indeed,  Agnes'  remarks  had 
afforded  him  sufficient  data  for  forming  one. 

He  followed  the  young  girl  up  stairs  into  her  sister's  cham- 
ber. There  he  found  Rusha  lying  white  and  still,  looking 
strangely  like  the  dead  young  face  he  had  left  down  there  in 
the  hospital,  and  with  something  of  the  same  calm  about  it,  the 
doctor  thought.  Her  pulse  was  faint,  but  regular,  and  she 
smiled  a  little  as  she  looked  up  and  gave  him  her  hand. 

Agnes  hovered  over  her  anxiously  a  few  moments,  and  then, 
reassured  by  the  doctor's  look,  went  out. 

"  You  are  feeling  better?  "  he  asked. 

"  O,  yes ;  I  have  been  lying  here  this  morning,  and  seeing 
farther  and  farther  into  those  words  of  Tom  that  God  would 
comfort  me.     I  think  that  awful  darkness  and  despair  will  neve 
come  upon  me  again.     Nobody  knows  how  I  loved  him,"  her 
lip   quivering  here,  "how  my  heart  will  ache  for  him ;  how 


396  DARRTLL    GAP,   OR 

lonely  and  desolate  at  times  life  will  seem  without  him  ;  but  I 
shall  always  feel  now  that  God  loves  us  both,  and  that  some- 
time it  will  all  be  made  plain  !  "  soft  tears  shining  in  her  eyes. 

"  And,  Rusha,"  said  Fletcher  Rochford,  deeply  moved,  "  you 
must  think  of  him  still,  as  living  in  a  far  finer,  completer  exist- 
ence than  this,  and  nobler  and  happier  than  he  could  ever  be 
here,  even  with  you  ;  and  how,  if  he  could  speak  to  you  now,'he 
would  urge  you  not  to  grieve  for  him." 

A  long  sigh  fluttered  out  of  her  lips.  She  pushed  back  her 
hair  from  her  forehead  in  a  way  that,  as  I  said,  was  a  habit 
with  her,  and  that  would  always,  to  those  who  had  grown  into 
loving  intimacy  with  her  ways,  come  to  have  some  sweet  asso- 
ciation with  herself. 

How  lovely  she  looked  lying  there  with  her  sweet,  pale,  tran- 
quil face,  —  the  face  of  one  who  has  loved  and  learned,  —  under 
the  shadow  of  its  dark,  fine  hair ! 

The  doctor  gazed,  and  as  he  gazed  there  came  over  him 
something  which  in  all  his  life  he  had  never  felt  before  —  a 
thrill  of  such  exceeding  tenderness  for  the  girl  lying  there  that 
he  longed  to  take  up  the  pale,  sweet  face,  aud  kiss  away  all  the 
sorrow  that  haunted  it. 

In  that  moment  the  face  lying  there  grew  beautiful  and  pre- 
cious and  sacred  beyond  everything  else  in  the  world ;  and  his 
heart  yearned,  and  thrilled,  and  longed  for  it,  to  have  always  in 
the  secret  places  of  its  tenderness  —  a  tenderness  that  out  of  its 
abundance  would  never  be  satisfied  with  giving  ! 

If  he  could  only  put  his  cheek  down  to  hers,  and  tell  her  this, 
and  they  could  thank  God  together  that  it  was  so,  the  man 
thought,  as  that  great,  mysterious  tidal  of  new  emotion  rose, 
and  swelled,  and  swayed  over  his  whole  being !  He  knew  then 
what  his  soul  had  gone  seeking  so  long,  and  that  here  he  had 
found  it. 

But  he  did  not  move  nor  speak  to  tell  her.  I  do  not  think 
he  could  at  that  moment.  The  soft,  supple  hand  lay  in  his 
without  a  closer  clasp  to  teach  her  what  it  had  become  to  him. 
And  so  in  a  moment  the  door  opened,  and  Mr.  Darryll  came  in. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  397 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

To  use  Mr.  Darryll's  own  words  to  Dr.  Rochford,  he  felt, 
on  seeing  her  that  morning,  "  as  though  his  daughter  had  been 
returned  to  him  from  the  dead."  Indeed,  there  was  no  doubt 
but,  for  the  latter's  arrival  at  that  time,  Rusha's  condition  must 
have  resulted  fatally  to  her  reason  or  her  life  ;  while,  contrary 
to  the  fears  of  all  those  who  partially  understood  her  case,  she 
suffered  no  relapse. 

To  most  persons,  the  rapidity  of  her  recovery  would  have 
been  a  sort  of  miracle ;  but  she  had  a  physician  who  under- 
stood, as  few  men  could,  the  mystery  of  her  fine,  nervous 
organization,  and  its  action  on  her  physique.  So  he  left  to 
nature  the  work  of  healing  which  lay  beyond  his  utmost  skill. 
He  insisted  upon  his  patient's  keeping  out  doors  as  much  as 
possible,  both  for  the  stimulus  of  the  fresh  air,  and  even  the 
ground  scente. 

So  they  carried  her  out  on  the  veranda,  and  laid  her  down  on 
a  lounge  in  one  corner,  amid  the  cool  shadows  of  the  rose  vines, 
where  there  was  an  outlook  on  Lafayette. 

The  days  were  at  their  very  finest  now.  Everybody  who  can 
feel  it,  knows  that  no  year  goes  over  the  earth  without  having  its 
flood-tide  of  inspiration  ;  a  time  certain  to  come  in  the  late  sum- 
mer or  autumn,  when  the  days  move  past  in  a  very  trance  of 
splendor  —  when  the  whole  earth  is  suffused  and  idealized  with 
a  new  radiance  and  beauty  —  still,  serene,  brooding  days  that 
seem  touched  with  the  very  peace  and  splendor  of  heaven,  and 
to  touch  our  hearts  also  with  their  own  peace  and  blessedness. 
This  time  had  fallen  now  to  the  year ;  and  Rusha  Darryll  lay 
out  there  in  the  joy  and  beauty  and  stillness,  her  pale  face 
34 


398     .  DAERTLL    GAP,   OB 

filled  with  such  a  peace  that  her  family  used  to  come  and  look 
at  it  with  a  kind  of  wondering  amazement. 

I  think,  however,  nobody  wondered  more  than  Rusha  at  this 
time.  She  could  not  understand  the  change  that  had  come  over 
her  soul  —  the  quiet,  the  blessedness,  after  all  that  anguish.  It 
was  as  though  she  had  come  into  another  state  of  existence,  as 
though  the  voice  of  God  Himself  had  spoken  its  eternal  "  Be 
still"  to  her  soul. 

She  told  herself  over  and  over  again  that  Tom  was  dead  ;  but 
somehow  the  words  seemed  afar  off,  and  did  not  hurt  her  any 
more.  She  could  only  feel  that  he  had  gone  away  for  a  little 
while,  where  everything  was  well  with  him  —  where  he  was  more 
blessed  and  happy  than  he  had  ever  been  before,  and  that  he 
was  coming  back  to  her  again,  and  there  was  afterwards  to  be 
no  more  separation  forever. 

No  doubt  that  the  reaction  from  that  awful  strain  of  body  and 
mind  had  much  to  do  with  her  present  calm  ;  but  something 
underlay  it  all,  deeper  than  that  —  something  given  of  God. 
She  would  lie  there,  her  eyes  on  the  grand  old  mountain,  hiding 
its  face  away  in  masses  of  smoky  cloud,  and  then  uncovering 
the  glories  of  its  presence,  as  in  a  vision,  to  her  gaze. 

And  here  Fletcher  Rochford  came  often  to  look  upon  the 
sweet  face  lying  there^  and  wonder  if  it  was  not  the  face  of  an 
angel.  Strong,  self-possessed  man  as  he  was,  this  new  love 
had  come  with  a  might  and  taken  possession  of  him  with  a 
power  and  suddenness  which  was  a  new  revelation  to  himself. 

Dr.  Rochford  wondered  sometimes  if  he  was  the  same  man 
he  had  been.  All  the  poetry  and  ideality  that  his  stirring, 
executive  life  had  held  in  leash,  asserted  themselves  mightily 
now. 

Love  must  always  take  its  character  from  the  nature  which 
gives  birth  to  it.  It  had  been  the  doctor's  habit  from  his  boy- 
hood to  idealize  woman.  There  was  something  at  the  core  of 
this  man's  nature  which  affiliated  with  all  that  was  best  and 
finest  in  the  old  medieval  devotion  to  women.  I  think  the 
humblest  and  weakest  of  these  felt  something  of  this  in  any 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  399 

casual  intercourse  with  the  doctor,  and  was  unconsciously  ele- 
vated bj  the  feeling ;  indeed,  he  was  always  certain  to  bring 
out  the  best  possibilities  of  any  one  brought  strongly  under  his 
influence. 

The  women  of  history,  the  women  of  Shakspeare,  were 
living  personalities  to  him.  They  incarnated  his  own  lofty 
ideals  of  purity,  sweetness,  and  nobleness,  and  his  thoughts  and 
imagination  dwelt  among  them,  familiar,  almost,  as  he  dwelt 
among  his  own  sisters,  blessed  in  both,  blessed  above  all  in  the 
mother  of  his  boyhood,  and  the  memory  she  had  left  behind  her. 

And  she  who  had  wrought  all  this  magic  in  the  soul  and 
heart  of  the  strong,  tender  nature,  lay  there  on  the  veranda,  with 
her  pale,  silent  face  turned  oftenest  to  the  mountains,  waiting 
for  the  healing  of  sky  and  earth. 

Here  one  and  another  would  come,  hanging  anxiously  over 
her  lounge  ;  and  here,  oftener,  perhaps,  than  any  of  the  others, 
impelled  by  a  sweet  magnetism  too  mighty  for  his  will  to  resist, 
came  also  Fletcher  Rochford,  gazing  down  on  the  pale  face  until 
its  power  and  loveliness  grew  upon  him  more  than  he  could 
bear,  and  he  would  go  away,  carrying  it  with  him,  into  the  deep 
silence  of  the  woods,  as  to  an  altar. 

So  one  day  went  by,  and  then  another.  It  seemed  cruel  and 
useless  to  talk  of  leaving  just  at  present ;  and  had  the  case  been 
different  —  had  the  family  clung  less  tenaciously  to  him  —  even 
the  strong  will  of  Fletcher  Rochford  would  have  found  it  hard  to 
resist  the  power  that  held  him  still  under  the  shadow  of  the 
White  Mountains. 

To  everybody  who  questioned  her  Rusha  had  much  the  same 
answer  during  these  days.  "  Better,  thank  you,  only  very  tired," 
her  voice  touched  with  weariness,  and  the  faint  smile  on  her  lips 
fading  into  sleep,  light  as  an  infant's,  even  while  she  spoke. 

For  she  slept  much  during  these  days.  The  tired  brain,  the 
strained  nerves,  the  heart  that  had  ached  out  its  pain,  needed 
all  that  slumber  to  come  back  into  newness  of  life. 

One  afternoon,  when  Dr.  Rochford  came  out  from  Mrs. 
Darryll's  sick  room,  he  found  Guy  sitting  by  the  lounge  fanning 


400  DAEETLL    GAP,    OB 

his  sister,  for  the  heat  had  fallen  suddenly,  as  it  is  apt  to  among 
the  valleys  of  the  New  Hampshire  hills. 

"  She's  been  asleep  for  the  last  hour,"  whispered  Guy,  not 
the  old,  careless,  self-assertive  Guy  of  a  week  ago. 

"  Every  moment  of  such  sleep  is  a  new  lease  of  life  to  her. 
But  I'll  take  your  place  a  while,  if  you  please,  Guy.  I  heard 
your  father  say  there  were  replies  to  some  business  letters  which 
could  not  be  put  off  any  longer,  and  it  will  do  your  mother  good 
to  have  you  with  her  just  now." 

Guy  rose  without  a  word,  and  placed  the  palm-leaf  in  the 
doctor's  hand.  So  he  sat  there,  waving  it  softly  over  the  cheek 
turned  towards  him,  and  watching  the  faint  flush  that  had  begun 
to  gather  into  its  paleness,  and  thinking  that  he  would  like  to  sit 
so  forever,  and  smiling  to  himself  as  he  thought  what  a  brave, 
manly  wish  that  was  for  a  fellow  who  had  any  purpose  or  any 
work  to  do  in  the  world  —  a  very  lover,  after  all,  you  see ! 

Suddenly  she  stirred  and  opened  her  eyes.  They  looked  at 
him,  startled  and  wistful,  a  moment ;  then  a  faint  smile  about  the 
lips  answered  his. 

"  You  are  looking  better,  Rusha,"  he  said. 

"  And  I  am  feeling  so.     Quite  like  my  old  self,  indeed." 

"  That  last  sleep  has  done  this  for  you.  I  was  certain  you 
would  M7ake  up  quite  renewed." 

The  little  hand  going  up  and  brushing  back  the  hair  again  — 
not  the  late  listless  gesture,  but  all  the  old  swift  life  in  it. 

"  I'm  tired  of  lying  here,"  she  said.  "  I  think  I  should  like  to 
sit  up  a  little  while  ;  "  and  he  thought  a  child  might  have  said  it 
with  just  such  pretty  simplicity  ;  but  then,  you  must  remember, 
he  was  in  love. 

"  You  may,  certainly."  He  lifted  her  up,  and  arranged  the 
pillows  carefully.  He  was  used  to  work  of  that  sort. 

"  Is  that  comfortable  ?  " 

"  O,  delightfully  so  !  "  settling  her  head  amongst  the  pillows. 
"  How  nicely  it  does  feel !  " 

A  few  moments'  silence,  her  consciousness  strong  and  clear, 
taking  in  all  that  had  happened  —  he  saw  by  her  face. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 

"  How  is  mother?     Can  I  go  to  her?" 

"As  well  as  we  could  reasonably  hope.  You  shall  see  her 
to-morrow." 

She  was  ready  to  talk  now,  and  he  satisfied  all  her  natural 
anxieties  about  her  family,  and  then  directed  her  gaze  to  the 
mountains,  which  were  in  one  of  their  tender  moods.  It  was 
pleasant  to  watch  her  face  deepen  and  brighten  as  she  gazed. 

He  spoke  in  a  moment :  — 

"  Those  words  have  been  ringing  up  and  down  my  thoughts 
ever  since  I  came  here  — '  As  the  mountains  are  round  about 
Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord  encampeth  round  about  those  who 
love  him.' " 

"  O,  yes.  I  have  remembered  that,  too.  It  is  wonderful  how 
all  those  Bible  passages  come  back  and  fit  into  all  one's  phases 
and  experiences,  never  wearing  out,  through  all  these  thousands 
of  years." 

"  Never  !  Gaining  rather,  I  think,  in  depth  and  meaning,  as 
the  heart  of  man  gains  in  depth  also  and  wisdom." 

She  was  silent  a  moment  over  that.  Then  she  looked  up 
quickly. 

"  How  good  you  have  been  to  me  —  to  us  all.  What  should 
I  have  done  without  you,  Dr.  Rochford  ?  " 

"  Found  somebody  better  in  my  stead,  I  hope." 

She  looked  incredulous.  Aud  then,  thinking  it  best  she 
should  not  talk  much  yet,  and  understanding  the  natural  rest- 
lessness of  her  active  temperament,  he  said,  — 

"  Let  me  be  a  little  better  still,  and  read  to  you  a  while." 

"  0,  yes  ;  thank  you.     I  shall  like  it  of  all  things." 

There  was  a  book-case  in  the  sitting-room.  The  doctor  went 
in  here,  and  returned  in  a  moment,  bringing  several  volumes  with 
him.  He  deposited  these  on  the  lounge. 

"  Won't  you  take  your  choice  ?  "  he  asked. 

But  she  preferred  him  to  do  that.  So  he  took  up  one  volume 
after  another,  watching  her  face  occasionally.  There  was  a 
copy  of  Tennyson's  "  Idyls."  He  paused  there. 

"  A  book  above  all  price  or  naming ! "  he  said. 
34* 


402  DAEEYLL   GAP,   OB 

She  did  not  answer,  but  he  saw  that  he  had  touched  the  right 
chord.  He  ran  over  the  leaves  of  the  book. 

"Which  is  your  favorite?"  she  asked;  and  he  held  up  the 
open  volume  for  answer,  and  the  page  read,  "  GUINEVERE." 

She  looked  up  now,  her  eyes  rained  over  with  tears.  "  It 
was  Tom's  favorite,  too.  He  will  never  read  that  to  me  again, 
Dr.  Rochford  —  never  —  never  !  " 

"  Rusha,  you  know  what  he  said.  Shall  I  read  it  in  his 
stead?" 

She  put  her  hand  over  her  eyes  a  moment.  When  she  drew 
it  away,  her  face  was  all  in  a  tremble,  but  it  was  not  all  of 
sorrow. 

"  In  his  stead,"  she  answered. 

Dr.  Rochford  was  a  fine  reader.  Indeed,  his  sisters  used  to 
say  he  had  a  marvellous  gift  in  that  direction ;  but  then,  they 
thought  he  had  this  in  many  others. ' 

Be  that  as  it  may,  his  voice  entered  now  into  the  very  heart 
of  the  Idyl,  and  brought  out  the  fine  life  and  individuality  of 
every  line.  The  remorse  of  Lancelot,  the  awful  despair  of 
Guinevere  in  the  lonely  convent,  and  the  love  and  agony  that 
wrenched  the  heart  of  King  Arthur  in  that  last  interview,  when 
his  soul  rose  from  its  suffering  into  its  sublime  exaltation  of  for- 
giveness, wrought  themselves  by  turns  into  the  magic  of  the 
doctor's  voice  as  he  read  —  read  as  no  man  could  who  had  not 
the  soul  and  heart  to  enter  with  living  sympathies  into  all  the 
sin,  and  suffering,  and  divine  victory  of  the  poem. 

Rusha  listened  to  the  close,  her  very  breath  held  on  her  parted 
lips,  her  eyes,  with  all  their  radiant  depths  alive  now,  on  the 
doctor's  face,  her  thought  and  imagination  losing  themselves  in 
a  conception  of  sorrow  that  went  so  far  beyond  her  own. 

And  at  last,  like  the  sweet  ringing  of  distant  bells,  like  the 
swinging  to  and  fro  of  the  last  notes  of  some  "  benedicite,"  fall- 
ing with  its  very  dew  of  blessing  upon  the  rapt  soul,  the  doctor's 
tones  shut  in  upon  that  last  line  that  closes  the  last  Idyl  into  the 
very  flowing  of  God's  eternal  calm  and  completeness,  — 
"  To  where,  beyond  these  voices,  there  is  peace." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  403 

Then  they  looked  at  each  other  —  this  man,  so  loving  this 
woman,  with  all  the  mystery  of  beauty  in  her  face  shining  upon 
him  now.  He  spoke  first :  — 

."  No  drum-beat  of  victory  in  that  last  line,  and  yet  it  is  the 
immortal  triumph  of  the  soul.  And  then  one  remembers  that 
all  the  raging  and  tumult,  all  the  sorrow  and  agony,  of  life  may 
be  swallowed  up  in  a  little  while  in  this  eternal  peace  of  God  !  " 

"  A  blessed  thought  —  a  sweet  and  most  blessed  thought," 
she  murmured,  covering  away  her  eyes  from  his  face  a  moment. 
I  think  he  was  glad  to  have  her  then. 

In  a  little  while  she  turned  towards  him  again. 

"  King  Arthur,"  she  said,  "  was,  from  the  hour  I  read  the 
Idyl,  my  ideal  hero.  No  poet,  it  seems  to  me,  whether  ancient 
or  modern,  has  risen  into  the  conception  of  so  lofty  and  yet  so 
tender  a  character,  merely  human.  One  may  say,  without 
irreverence,  '  It  is  God-like '  both  in  its  purity  and  pity." 

"  And  how  far  it  transcends  all  the  old  gods  and  heroes  of  the 
Greeks  !  Through  all  the  grace  and  beauty  of  their  mythology, 
there  does  not  shine  down  upon  us  a  conception  of  a  character 
like  this.  It  could  not  enter  into  their  thoughts.  Christ  had  to 
come  and  live  and  die  before  man  could  fashion  an  ideal  like 
King  Arthur,  the  self-sacrifice  and  tenderness  crowning  all  the 
strength." 

In  the  silence  that  followed  these  words,  but  that  did  not  lack 
its  own  language,  Mr.  Darryll  came  out  on  the  veranda.  Rusha 
stretched  out  her  hands  towards  him. 

"  O,  pa,  do  come  here  !  "  her  face  full  of  light  up  there  among 
the  pillows. 

"  Why,  my  child,  how  well  you  look !  No,  doctor,  thank 
you ;  keep  your  seat ; "  and  he  took  one  on  the  corner  of  the 

lounge. 

"  The  doctor  has  promised  I  shall  have  my  freedom  to-mor- 
row," she  said,  almost  joyfully. 

Rusha's  father  looked  at  her  with  a  feeling  that  did  not  expres 
itself  in  many  words,  great  as  his  delight  was  over  her  manifest 
improvement. 


404  DABETLL   GAP,   OR 

Nobody  had  ever  seen  John  Darryll  with  so  old  and  broken- 
down  a  look  and  air  as  he  had  worn  for  the  last  week.  The 
death  of  his  noblest  boy  had  gone  down  to  the  roots  of  his  love 
and  ambition.  It  had  taken  hold  of  his  life.  Rusha  saw  it  all 
with  a  great  pang. 

"  What  have  you  been  doing,  pa?  "  she  said. 

"  Writing  some  business  letters,  my  child.  They  had  to  be 
done,"  in  a  weary  tone,  showing  how  little  interest  the  brisk, 
alert  man  had  in  his  work.  The  old  habit  might  constrain 
him  still,  but  he  must  feel  now  through  it  all,  that  the  pride  of 
his  sons  was  gone ;  that  there  was  no  Tom  to  make  money  and 
heap  together  riches  for  any  more. 

Rusha,  with  her  true  instinct,  saw  the  feeling,  and  answered 
it,  taking  his  hand  and  chafing  it  in  her  soft  ones. 

"  You  have  a  good  many  left  to  live  for,  pa.  You  know 
there's  mother  and  me  and  all  the  rest  of  us  !  "  not  adding  the 
other  two  names,  because  of  the  two  living  ones  beyond  that 
must  be  left  out. 

"  I  know  it,  my  child,  and  I  shall  try  to  bear  it  for  your 
sakes,"  a  spasm  of  paiu  working  across  his  face. 

How  Rusha  pitied  him !  What  covenants  she  made  with 
herself  to  be  always  thoughtful  and  tender  towards  her  father, 
not  only  for  her  brother's  sake,  but  because  of  that  other  brother 
and  sister  who  had  helped  to  bring  the  age  into  his  face  that  had 
come  there  within  the  last  year.  And  with  that  thought  came 
another,  that  brought  a  sudden  trouble  into  her  eyes. 

"  What  is  it,  my  child?"  asked  her  father. 

How  kind  and  watchful  he  had  grown  of  late ! 

"  There  are  Andrew  and  Ella,  pa.  They  must  both  be  writ- 
ten to  now.  You  know  what  Tom  said  !  " 

"  I  can't  do  it  —  I  can't  do  it,"  with  all  his  old  hasty  movement, 
and  yet  something  in  his  voice  that  was  like  an  appeal  for  pity. 

"  I  will  take  all  that  on  myself,  pa,  in  a  day  or  two,"  her 
voice  fairly  choked  with  sympathy  for  him. 

But  the  doctor  knew  that  her  nerves  would  not  bear  such  a 
strain  for  weeks.  Why  could  he  not  spare  her  that,  too  —  he 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  405 

who  could  tell,  as  nobody  else  could,  just  how  those  last  messages 
had  been  spoken?  So  Dr.  Rochford  said  to  the  father  and 
daughter,  — 

"  I  brought  his  last  words  to  you  ;  let  me  send  them  also  to 
his  brother  and  sister." 

And  again  John  Darryll  thanked  him  with  no  words,  only  a 
grasp  of  his  hand ;  and  again  Rusha  turned  upon  him  the 
gratitude  of  those  eloquent  brown  eyes. 

That  night  Dr.  Rochford  related  in  his  letters  to  Andrew  Dar- 
ryll and  Ella  Howe  all  that  he  had  witnessed  by  their  brother's 
death-bed. 


406  DARBYLL    GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

I  HAVE  said  that  Fletcher  Rochford  had  something  in  him  of 
all  that  which  we  most  honor  and  love  in  the  old  knights  and 
heroes  of  chivalry.  From  his  boyhood  there  had  been  something 
in  that  long  service  of  Jacob  for  Rachel  which  enchanted  his 
imagination,  and  the  tales  of  loyal  devotion  to  their  ladies,  which 
make  the  poetry  of  the  old  chronicles,  had  always  a  charm  for  him. 

His  dreams  of  wooing  and  winning  a  woman  for  his  wife  had 
always  taken  their  coloring  from  his  heart  and  fancy  —  always 
had  in  them  something  of  the  poetry  and  romance  whose 
springs  lay  in  his  inmost  nature. 

But  the  hour  that  held  the  best  gift  of  his  life  had  waited  for 
him  long,  and  it  came  when  he  least  looked  for  it,  opening  wide 
to  him  in  a  moment  that  great  mystery  of  love  which  had 
brooded  long  in  the  silence  of  his  soul. 

Yet  the  very  might  of  this  man's  tenderness  made  him  humble, 
doubtful  of  himself  and  of  his  power  to  win  the  woman  of  his 
heart's  choosing.  He  used  to  look  at  the  sweet,  delicate,  face, 
sweeter  than  ever  now  in  the  shadow  of  its  sorrow,  and  wonder 
whether  he  should  ever  be  so  blessed  as  to  call  it  his  very  own, 
to  gaze  at  it,  cherish  it,  caress  it  at  his  will,  to  have  it  smile  up 
to  him  in  absolute  trust  and  abiding  love,  and  to  read  at  some 
time,  in  its  own  eloquent  and  radiant  language,  that  he,  of  all  the 
world,  was  its  crowning  blessedness  and  joy.  But  he  looked 
forward  to  months  or  years  before  that  could  be  given  him.  He 
would  have  thought  it  sacrilege  to  her  womanhood  to  have  told 
Rusha  Darryll  at  this  time  of  the  new  revelation  that  had  come 
to  him,  and  would  have  regarded  it  as  simple  justice,  that,  stung 
and  outraged  by  the  man  who  could  talk  to  her  of  love  in  the 
very  presence  of  death,  she  denied  his  suit. 

Still,  with  instincts  that  went  so  straight  as  Rusha  Darryll's 
did  to  the  truth,  I  think  that,  at  any  other  time,  some  suspicion 
of  the  doctor's  real  feeling  must  have  haunted  her,  unconsciously, 
perhaps,  for  she  was  not  vain,  and  would  be  much  more  likely 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  497 

to  fancy  a  man  like  Dr.  Rochford  in  love  with  some  other 
woman  than  herself.  But  with  all  his  habit  of  self-control, 
there  was  som'ethiug  in  his  manner  and  voice  with  her  not  just 
like  that  which  he  carried  towards  friend  or  patient.  His  sis- 
ters. Avould  have  discerned  the  difference. 

His  presence  was  an  unutterable  comfort  to  Rusha,  his  kind- 
ness and  interest  giving  her  a  constant  sense  of  rest  and  grati- 
tude ;  but  she  thought  it  all  sprang  from  the  promise  that  the 
doctor  had  given  Tom  —  this,  and  nothing  more.  So  she  was 
not  surprised  or  embarrassed  in  any  way,  taking  all  his  care 
and  attentions  much  as  she  would  have  taken  Tom's.  Had  not 
Dr.  Rochford  come  to  her  in  his  stead  ? 

But  human  plans,  though  laid  with  the  wisest  skill  and  fore- 
sight, seldom  transpire  according  to  our  programme.  Life  is 
full  of  surprises,  of  events  that  change  our  purposes,  and  beyond 
that,  we  are  such  mysteries  to  ourselves  ;  we  can  never  count  on 
our  feelings ;  some  great  tidal  of  emotion  will  rush  over  our 
souls,  bearing  out  upon  them,  as  upon  the  rush  of  a  mighty  river, 
our  most  sacred  feelings,  our  longest  hoarded  secrets  —  and  our 
wills  are  as  weak  to  hold  them  back  as  our  voices  are  to  hold  the 
winds  in  their  might. 

During  the  three  or  four  days  that  followed,  Rusha's  strength 
waxed  so  rapidly  that  from  drives  she  became  equal  to  short 
walks  into  the  woods,  and  among  the  still  old  country  roads, 
where,  in  case  of  fatigue,  it  was  always  easy  enough  to  impro- 
vise seats  out  of  the  stone  walls,  or  mossy  boulders,  or  at  worst 
the  wreck  of  some  old  tree  struck  down  by  the  lightnings,  or 
wrenched  up  from  its  roots  by  the  storm. 

Nobody  thought  it  strange  that  Dr.  Rochford  always  accom- 
panied her  in  these  walks,  for  she  was  not  strong  enough  to  go 
alone,  and  neither  her  father  nor  brother  was  a  physician. 

Quiet,  peaceful,  blessed  hours  they  were,  touched,  but  not 
gloomed,  with  the  shadow  of  death  ;  hours  that  seemed  to  take 
her  soul  into  their  calm  and  peace.  The  faint  color  came  back 
to  her  cheeks,  and  the  bright,  playful  changes  to  her  face  ;  and 
still  it  seemed  to  her  that  Tom  was  only  gone  away,  and  that 
dreadful  word  death  was  robbed  of  its  sting  and  terror. 


408  DAHBYLL    OAF,    OR 

In  these  daily  walks  the  soul  of  the  man  and  woman  opened 
to  each  other.  How  fairly  they  were  chorded  together  !  Na- 
ture, art,  books  seemed  to  have  so  many  like  meanings  and  utter- 
ances for  both  !  Dr.  Rochford  was  more  and  more  struck  with  the 
grasp  of  Rusha's  mind,  and  the  range  of  her  bright,  alert  thought. 

He  wondered  how,  with  a  life  so  little  calculated  to  discipline 
her  faculties,  or  develop  the  best  possibilities  of  her  intellect, 
she  had  assimilated  so  much  of  the  finest  and  best  thoughts  of 
others,  whether  it  was  of  the  past  or  present. 

What  a  rare,  fine,  clear  mind  it  was  !  —  how  greedy  for  all 
forms  of  cultivation !  — what  a  joy  it  would  be  to  watch  its  de- 
velopment, to  stimulate  its  activities  in  all  high  and  worthy  direc- 
tions !  All  this  and  a  great  deal  more,  the  doctor  thought,  in  those 
days  out  of  whose  grief  had  grown  the  new  gladness  of  his  life. 

In  the  household  everything  had  gravitated  back  into  its  old 
way.  The  days  come  and  go,  and  we  take  up,  we  know  not 
how,  the  little  interests  and  duties  of  life,  when  we  felt  that  all 
these  had  slipped  away  from  us  forever.  The  Darryll  family 
was  no  exception  to  this  rule.  It  was  not  possible  to  the  youth 
of  Guy  and  Agnes  to  be  always  sad,  and  though,  of  all  the 
brothers  and  sons  that  went  down  under  the  red  hail-storm  of 
our  war,  none  was  mourned  with  a  bitterer  grief  than  Tom  Dar- 
ryll, still  it  can  be  said  of  these,  as  it  was  of  all  the  other  house- 
holds, "  The  grief  did  not  kill  them." 

Even  the  poor,  broken-hearted  mother  could  not  forget  that 
her  husband  lived,  that  other  children  remained  to  her ;  and  in  a 
thousand  undiscerned  ways  the  living  loves  asserted  their  claims 
beside  the  dead. 

Dr.  Rochford  had  made  up  his  mind  to  leave  the  next  day. 
It  must  be  confessed  the  idea  had  seemed  to  him  as  much  like 
leaving  heaven  as  anything  he  could  conceive  of  in  this  world ; 
but  the  man  had  a  will,  and  he  brought  it  to  a  focus  on  this 
resolution,  "  If  the  folks  would  only  stop  urging  him  to  stay ; 
that  was  the  hardest  of  all,  as  though  there  were  not  other  sur- 
geons down  in  the  hospitals  that  needed  a  vacation ;  in  love, 
too,  very  likely —  poor  fellows  ! " 

That  last  day,  however,  Rusha  was  so  much  improved  that 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  409 

he  suggested  a  new  walk  to  her  — one  he  had  hunted  up  the  day 
before,  when  a  great  tumult  of  thought  and  feeling  carried  him 
out  into  the  sympathy  and  silence  of  nature. 

But  Fletcher  Rochford  did  not  add  this  when  he  described  to 
Miss  Darryll  the  walk  through  the  back  pastures  to  a  hill  which 
crowned  them,  from  the  summit  of  which  they  could  get  a  view 
of  the  whole  White  Mountain  range,  not  finer  than  that  from 
the  veranda,  perhaps,  but  bringing  out  new  features  and  profiles. 

He  should  like  to  show  it  to  her  ;  but  though  the  walk  was  not 
more  than  a  third  of  a  mile  from  their  own  door,  still  it  was 
steep  clambering ;  he  doubted  her  strength  for  the  enterprise. 

She  felt  strong  enough  to  climb  Mont  Blanc  that  very  morn- 
ing, she  answered.     With  the  help  of  the  doctor's  arm  over  theJ 
steep  places,  it  was  the  very  exercise  she  needed. 

Mr.  Darryll  was  present  at  this  conversation ;  but  the  man 
had  such  unquestioning  faith  in  Dr.  Rochford's  judgment,  that, 
had  the  latter  proposed  for  Rusha's  benefit  a  ten-miles'  walk, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  her  father  would  have  demurred. 

Se  they  started  off,  the  doctor's  pockets  and  arms  provided 
with  shawls,  overshoes,  and  umbrella,  all  of  which  preliminaries 
Rusha's  memory  had  a  fatal  tendency  to  let  slip  at  such  a  time. 

They  went  up  through  the  pastures  in  the  still,  dreamy  Sep- 
tember air,  that  made  a  luxury  of  every  breath,  her  little  sun- 
hat,  as  usual,  a-tilt  on  her  head,  her  fingers  tying  and  untying 
the  ribbons,  for  she  had  a  thousand  absent  habits  of  that  sort, 
little  graceful,  individual  ways  and  movements  which  were  a 
part  of  herself,  and  would  become  so  in  the  knowledge  and 
memory  of  one  who  loved  her. 

There  were  hidden  streams  and  treacherous,  miry  places 
among  the  long  grass,  over  which  he  had  to  lift  the  girl,  and 
steep  places,  where  she  needed  his  arm  for  a  moment;  but  for 
the  most  part  she  kept  her  way  bravely,  the  heightening  color  of 
cheek  and  lip  making  manifest  that  each  breath  of  the  mountain 
air  was  to  her  the  very  elixir  of  life.  As  they  gained  the  sum- 
mit of  the  hill  the  doctor  asked,  for  the  twentieth  time,  perhaps, 
"  Are  you  tired,  Miss  Rusha  ?  Ought  not  you  to  rest  a  while  ? 
35 


410  DARRYLL    GAP,    OB 

"  Not  yet,  thank  you,  doctor.  We  are  so  near  the  summit 
now,  and  I  am  impatient  for  the  view." 

"  Keep  your  eyes  on  the  ground,  then,  until  I  give  you  per- 
mission to  lift  them." 

"  Mayn't  I  even  look  at  you,  doctor?"  all  the  old  playfulness 
of  her  manner  restored  for  a  moment,  as  she  darted  a  half 
arch,  half  defiant  glance  up  to  his  face. 

His  smile  answered  hers.  "  O,  yes  ;  you  may  look  at  me  or 
the  ground,  whichever  shall  be  the  more  agreeable  ;  but  that  is 
your  limit  of  choice." 

In  a  moment  more  they  gained  the  summit  of  the  hill. 
Everything  combined  to  make  this  a  delicious  haunt  in  which  to 
dream  away  hours  that  would  not  seem,  in  such  air  and  sunlight, 
to  belong  to  this  world.  A  wide  opening  betwixt  the  trees  let 
them  into  a  vast  aisle  of  coolness  and  shadow.  There  was  a 
great  gray  boulder  which  the  storms  had  gnawed,  and  which 
served  for  a  chair  of  state. 

At  the  foot  of  this  Dr.  Rochford  spread  the  blanket-shawls, 
and  seated  the  young  lady,  and  disposed  himself  beside  her. 

They  listened  a  moment  to  the  birds  singing  overhead,  and 
the  slow  swinging  of  the  winds  through  the  mysterious  tides  of 
air.  She  drew  a  long  breath,  and  looked  at  him. 

"  O,  this  is  beautiful,  Dr.  Rochford." 

"  Then  look  all  around  you,  and  tell  me  what  that  is  !  " 

She  lifted  her  eyes  now,  and  gazed  over  the  landscape.  The 
view  was  one  which  men  go  thousands  of  miles,  by  sea  and 
land,  to  behold,  and  carry  the  hour  in  which  the  vision  is  given 
them,  "  a  thing  of  beauty,  and  a  joy  forever." 

There,  making  a  semicircle  around  the  horizon,  was  the 
whole  range  of  the  White  Mountains,  in  one  view ;  every  peak 
and  slope  standing  with  its  own  strong,  individual  character  in 
the  clear,  delicious  air.  And  yet,  not  mere  mountains,  as  they 
sometimes  are  when  you  see  them  most  strongly  defined.  They 
were  in  one  of  their  ideal  moods,  soft,  radiant,  poetical,  a  ten- 
der glory  enchanting  them. 

With  her  indrawn  breath  Rusha's  eyes  went  round  and  round  the 
horizon,  and  the  doctor's  eyes  went  from  the  mountains  to  her  face. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  41 1 

At  last  she  spoke.  "  I  think  we  are  in  the  very  court-room 
of  the  kings." 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  "  we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  monarchs 
of  the  earth.  It  is  good  to  be  here,  and  pay  them  loving  homage." 

So  they  talked,  the  inborn  poetry  of  both  their  natures  stirred 
within  them  by  this  scene,  and  the  hours  slipped  away,  and  the 
landscape  took  on  new  variations  of  mood  ;  and,  as  they  grew 
intimate  with  it,  they  found  new  magical  effects  in  light  and 
shadow,  new  mysteries  of  expression  in  the  mountains,  and  the 
clouds  went  and  came  overhead,  and  I  think  that  morning  was 
to  Fletcher  Rochford  and  Rusha  Darryll  the  happiest  of  their 
lives.  And  they  had  sat  there  for  hours  then,  and  yet  the  scene 
was  still  fresh  to  them.  He  asked,  — 

"  Which  is  your  favorite  mountain,  Miss  Rusha?" 

Her  gaze  went  over  to  the  right,  straight  to  Lafayette. 

"  That  is  the  finest,  if  not  the  grandest,  of  the  group,"  she 
said.  "  No  other  looks  to  me,  speaks  to  me,  just  like  that  one, 
my  mountain  above  all  the  others.  O,  see  there ! "  a  quick 
change  in  her  voice  and  face. 

The  doctor  looked,  and  saw  a  gray,  smoky  cloud,  around 
which  hung  suowy  gauzes  of  mist,  drifting  just  upon  the  summit 
of  Lafayette.  There  it  clung,  heaving  to  and  fro  —  a  sight  that 
one  would  not  be  likely  to  find  more  than  once  in  a  lifetime. 

"  I  thiuk  the  mountain  is  at  its  worship,"  she  said,  "  and 
that  is  the  smoke  of  its  incense  going  up  into  heaven."  Her 
figures  on  the  mountains  always  took  the  form  of  personifica- 
tion. They  were  real,  vital  presences  to  her. 

After  a  while  she  drew  away  her  gaze  with  a  long  breath. 

"  I  suppose  we  must  leave  this  some  time,  though  I  can't  bear 
to  think  of  that  now." 

"Have  you  any  idea  how  long  we  have  been  here? 

the  doctor. 

••  Xot  the  slightest ;  an  hour,  perhaps." 

He  took  out  his  watch  and  showed  her.     Instead  of  one  1 
it  was  four.     Her  look  of  amazement  was  comical. 

«  It  can't  be  possible,  doctor.     There    must  be  sometl 
wrong  about  your  time." 


4H 


"  I  wish  I  could  think  so,"  replacing  his  repeater.  "  But  for 
three  years  my  watch  hasn't  failed  me  by  the  space  of  one  minute." 

He  added  soon  after,  —  a  new  train  of  ideas  being  now  started 
for  both  of  them,  — 

"  I  always  like  to  have  last  days  the  pleasantest  ones,  and 
this  at  the  mountains  has  been  a  crowning  one  for  me." 

"  I  am  so  sorry  that  you  must  go,"  speaking  out  her  first 
thought,  "  that  I  try  not  to  think  of  it ;  I  do  not  know  how  we 
could  have  lived  through  the  last  week  without  you.  You  will 
never  know  what  you  have  been  to  us  at  this  time.  I  shall  tell 
Tom  of  it  some  day  ;  "  the  feeling  that  he  was  living  somewhere 
had  taken  such  hold  of  her  that  instinctively  she  always  spoke 
of  him  in  that  way. 

Certainly  her  words  could  not  be  otherwise  than  pleasant  to 
him  ;  and  yet,  after  their  first  sweetness,  they  left  a  great  bitter- 
ness in  his  thought,  and  the  bitterness  grew  aud  grew  until  it 
became  an  intense  pain. 

She  would  not  speak  to  him  with  this  perfect  freedom  of 
thought  and  feeling  if  it  had  not  been  for  his  promise  to  Tom  — 
a  promise  to  which  all  his  heart  and  soul  rose  up  in  passionate 
denial  at  that  moment. 

He  never  could  be  a  brother  to  Rusha  Darryll.  He  must 
have  her  in  a  finer  and  closer  bond  than  that,  or  none  at  all  — 
have  her  as  a  portion  of  himself,  set  apart  and  belonging  to  him 
as  she  could  to  no  other  human  love,  chiefly  aud  supremely  his 
own,  or  else  a  longing  and  a  memory  of  anguish  through  all  his 
life  to  come.  And  the  man  looked  at  her  as  she  sat  there  in 
the  sweetness  and  beauty  of  her  maidenhood,  and  his  soul  was 
at  flood-tide,  and  the  waves  beat  and  beat  against  the  strong 
man's  will,  as  the  ocean  rolls  and  rolls  against  the  rocks  at  high 
tide  ;  and  as  they  bear  these  down  at  last,  so  the  might  of  his 
love  bore  down  the  strong  mastery  of  his  will,  and  because  he 
could  not  help  it ;  and  wondering  as  though  it  were  another 
man,  and  not  himself,  speaking,  Fletcher  Rochford  said,  — 

"  Rusha,  you  must  give  me  back  the  promise  that  I  made  to 
Tom,  and  that  he  died  believing.  I  cannot  stand  to  you  in  his 
stead  —  I  cannot  be  your  brother  !  " 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  413 

She  started  and  stared  at  him,  ber  face  fairly  frightened  with 
her  shock  of  surprise. 

"  What  do  you  say  —  what  do  you  mean,  Dr.  Rochford?" 

And  looking  straight  in  her  face,  and  holding  her  eyes  by 
some  mysterious  magnetism  of  his  own,  the  doctor  answered,  — 

"  Because,  Rusha,  I  find  that  I  cannot  act  the  hypocrite  any 
longer  —  because  I  love  you  with  a  love  so  far  exceeding  that 
of  any  brother's,  that  it  is  a  love  which  I  can  have  for  but  one 
woman  in  all  the  world  !  " 

Her  listening  face  grew  white  under  his.  Without  uttering 
one  word,  she  dropped  it  into  her  hands,  while  the  truth  that  had 
come  so  strangely,  so  against  Dr.  Rochford's  will,  entered  into 
and  took  possession  of  her  soul.  And  he  sat  by  her  side,  silently 
waiting — waiting  less,  I  think,  in  hope  than  in  fear.  His  face  was 
white,  too.  Was  not  more  than  his  life  at  stake  in  that  hour? 

At  last  —  it  seemed  a  long  time  to  her  —  what  must  it  have 
been  to  him  —  she  heard  his  whisper,  — 

"  Rusha,  are  you  glad,  or  sorry?  " 

Then  she  took  down  her  hands,  and  turned  her  face  towards 
him  ;  no  blushes  on  it,  but  crowned  with  such  a  solemn  triumph 
and  joy  as  no  mortal  eyes  had  ever  seen  on  it  before. 

"  I  am  glad !  God  alone  knows  how  absolutely,  unspeak- 
ably glad  !  "  she  said. 

.He  put  his  arms  around  her ;  he  drew  her  to  him  with  the 
new  right  which  her  words  gave  him ;  he  turned  up  the  sweet 
face  to  his,  and  kissed  its  lips  and  eyes  for  the  first  time. 

"  O,  my  God,  I  thank  Thee  !  "  he  said,  and  he  held  her  close, 
and  she  leaned  her  head  down  on  his  shoulder,  and  it  seemed 
that  there  was  no  speech  in  language,  the  silence  was  so  elo- 
quent between  them. 

At  last  she  spoke.     "  How  long  have  you  known  this  ?  " 

"  Since  the  morning  after  I  came  here.  I  was  in  your  room, 
standing  by  your  bedside,  just  after  you  woke  up,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment the  truth  came  to  me.  I  wonder  now  how  I  carried  it  so 
long ;  and  yet  I  expected  to  go  away  without  telling  you. 
came  up  the  hill  this  morning  without  faith  enough  or  courage 
35* 


414  DARR7LL    GAP,   OR 

enough  to  face  my  destiny ;  but  my  love  was  mightier  than  I, 
and  mastered  me." 

Again  she  sat  still  in  the  shelter  of  his  arms,  trying  to  think 
it  all  over.  At  last  she  said,  in  a  half-awed  tone,  — 

"  It  is  wonderful ;  and  yet  it  does  not  seem  altogether  strange, 
as  I  should  have  fancied  it  must." 

"  That  is  the  way  with  all  God's  best  gifts,"  he  answered. 
"  The  soul  takes  them  naturally  amid  all  the  wonder  and  grati- 
tude. Should  it  not  be  so  with  this  dearest,  best  gift  of  all?" 

So,  betwixt  many  lapses  of  sweet  silence,  the  talk  grew  in  this 
first  betrothal  hour.  Once  her  breath  came  quickly  as  she  sat 
there,  while  his  hand  smoothed  softly  her  beautiful  brown  hair. 

"  What  is  it,  dear  love?"  he  asked. 

"  I  was  wondering  whether  Tom  knew  this,  and  thinking  he 
must  be  glad  over  it  even  in  heaven." 

"If  he  does  not  know  it  now,  he  will  in  God's  own  good 
time.  We  are  willing  to  leave  all  that  with  His  love  and  wis- 
dom, knowing  that  He  will  judge  and  do  best." 

"  Just  as  He  wills  ;  "  voice  and  face  in  that  perfect  security  of 
trust  which  is  given  to  some  hours  of  our  weak  human  lives. 

Of  a  sudden  she  leaned  over,  and  folding  her  hands  on  his 
knee,  looked  up  in  his  face,  soft  blushes  all  alive  in  hers  now, 
making  it,  if  possible,  lovelier  in  his  sight  than  ever. 

"  To  think  that  I  never  suspected  until  this  morning  —  I 
must  have  been  blind  and  a  fool !  " 

"  Don't  slander  yourself  in  that  way,  my  child."  And  then 
he  took  her  face  between  his  hands.  "  Little  face,"  he  said, 
"  beautiful  face,  above  all  faces  of  women  or  of  pictures  in  the 
world  —  mine  own,  to  belong  to  me.  always  —  God  be  my  wit- 
ness, that  I  will  deal  tenderly  and  lovingly  by  it  —  that  so  far 
as  in  me  lies,  I  will  never  bring  a  shadow  or  a  grief  into  it  so 
long  as  we  both  live  !  " 

The  tears  were  in  her  eyes  at  the  solemn  tones  in  which  he 
made  his  covenant ;  but  she  looked  up  the  next  moment  with 
that  child-like  simplicity  which  was  one  side  of  her  character,  — 

"  Do  you  really  think  I  am  beautiful  ?  I  never  supposed  I 
was." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  415 

Dr.  Rochford  had  taken  off  his  glasses  long  ago ;  so  Rusha 
had  the  full  benefit  of  his  eyes  —  wonderful  eyes  they  were,  too, 
when  his  soul  was  alive  in  them.  lie  gave  her  a  glance  now 
which,  I  think,  would  have  answered  her  question  to  the  satis- 
faction of  any  living  woman,  as  to  what  she  was  in  the  eyes  of 
the  man  who  gave  her  that  look. 

"  When  I  think,"  he  spoke,  a  little  later,  "  that  this  blessed 
hour  is  only  a  promise  and  foretaste  of  all  the  blessed  hours 
that  are  to  come  —  that  from  henceforth  we  are  never  to  be 
divided  —  that  in  all  our  joys  and  sorrows,  we  are  to  be  one,  — 
it  seems  as  though  my  whole  life  henceforth  must  be  a  contin- 
ual Te  Deum." 

And  for  answer  she  said,  clinging  to  him  a  little  shyly,  — 

"  I  can't  think  we  shall  ever  have  anymore  sorrows,  or  that, 
if  they  come,  they  will  seem  such,  now." 

Her  next  speech  broke  out  suddenly :  — 

"  I  want  you  to  promise  me  one  thing.  It  is  the  first  I 
have  asked  since  — " 

"Our  betrothal.  Don't  stop,  dear  child,  before  the  right 
word.  Well,  you  shall  have  the  promise,  if  it  is  in  the  power 
of  mortal  man  to  keep  it." 

"  That  you  will  not  go  away  to-morrow." 

What  could  the  man  do  ?  Nobody  would  suffer  now  at  the 
hospitals.  He  made  himself  believe  that  the  duty  here  was  the 
higher  of  the  two. 

"  And  now  I  have  my  first  petition  to  make,"  after  he  had 
had  granted  hers. 

"What  is  it?" 

"  That  you  will  drop  that  everlasting  «  doctor,'  and  put  in  its 
stead  '  Fletcher.'  " 

Her  face  demure  and  doubtful.  "  It  will  come  hard  at  first, 
but  I'll  try  —  Fletcher  ; "  her  lips  taking  the  name  with  a  dainty 
awkwardnesses  though  the  sound  of  her  own  voice  frightened  h.-r. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  they  looked  off  again  to  the 
mountains.  The  sun  had  touched  the  cloud  of  gray  smoke  on 
the  forehead  of  Mount  Lafayette,  and  it  burned  now  as  though 
it  were  a  fire  kindled  on  that  vast  altar  height. 


416  '  DAEETLL    GAP,   OE 

"  Look  !  "  she  cried.  "  See  what  the  cloud  has  become  since 
we  saw  it  last !  " 

"  Just  what  our  lives  have,  irradiated  by  this  new  love,"  he 
answered. 

But  the  day  began  to  wane  at  last,  and  the  dews  fall  early 
and  heavy  among  the  mo'untains,  and  they  must  go  down. 

"  O,  dear  !  "  she  sighed  as  they  rose  up,  "  I  wish  this  day 
would  last  forever." 

"  No,  my  darling,". he  made  answer  ;  "  think  of  all  the  days 
that  are  to  come  as  dear  and  blessed  as  this  one  !  " 

So  they  went  down  the  hill  as  they  were  to  go  down  that 
other  longer  hill  of  life  together.  When  they  reached  home 
they  found  the  windows  open,  and  the  family  concentrated  in 
the  parlor,  for  the  first  time  since  the  doctor's  arrival.  Even 
Mrs.  Darryll  had  been  persuaded  to  leave  her  room  for  an  hour. 

"  Well,"  said  Agnes,  looking  up  as  they  entered,  "  I  thought 
impending  starvation  would  drive  you  home.  I  begin  to  find 
that  you,  doctor,  are  just  as  much  mountain-struck  as  Rusha." 

It  was  the  first  jest  she  had  attempted  since  they  had  learned 
of  Tom's  death. 

Dr.  Rochford  did  not  answer  ;  he  led  Rusha  right  up  to  her 
father,  who  was  sitting  by  his  wife's  side. 

"  Tom  gave  me  his  dying  charge  to  be  a  brother  to  her ;  but 
she  has  to-day  granted  me  a  dearer  right  and  name.  Will  you 
also,  Mr.  Darryll,  give  your  daughter  to  me,  and  I  will  take 
Tom's  place,  and  be  to  you  a  son  in  name  and  in  deed  ?  " 

Amazement  fairly  took  the  man's  breath  away,  as  it  did 
everybody's  else  in  the  room.  Certainly  no  one  of  them  had 
expected  this  ;  but  at  last  the  father  comprehended  the  meaning 
of  the  doctor's  speech,  and  his  amazement  became  joy.  John 
Darryll  rose  up  ;  he  took  his  daughter's  hand. 

"  She  is  the  best  daughter,  the  dearest  child,  that  ever  a 
father  had,"  he  said,  and  the  tears  shook  in  his  voice.  "  In  the 
whole  world,  you  are  the  only  man  to  whom  I  could  say  gladly, 
'  I  give  you  my  daughter  ; ' "  and  he  placed  Rusha's  hand  in  the 
doctor's. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

IT  would  seem  little  less  than  sacrilege  to  open  wide  the  gates 
and  enter  into  the  sacred  joy  of  those  days  that  followed  the  be- 
trothal of  Fletcher  Rochford  and  Rusha  Darryll. 

The  old  life  had  passed  away,  in  a  large  sense,  to  the  souls  of 
this  man  and  woman.  The  union  betwixt  these  two  fine,  broad 
natures  grew  deeper  and  closer  in  its  mysterious  oneness  as  they 
came  into  closer  knowledge  and  intimacy. 

Most  friendships  and  loves  are  so  one-sided  in  this  world ! 
They  only  embrace  a  narrow  area  of  thoughts,  tastes,  and  sym- 
pathies in  common.  Outside  of  that,  the  two  are  strangers  to 
each  other.  There  are  wide  realms  of  eternal  silence  and  mys- 
tery, where  the  two  souls  can  never  meet,  where  one  never  hears 
the  voice  of  the  other  calling  to  it. 

But  the  affinity  betwixt  the  man  and  woman  of  whom  I  am 
telling  you,  was  not  of  this  partial  and  limited  character.  It 
seemed  to  reach  and  hold  in  its  immortal  bond,  intellect  and 
heart,  thought,  sympathies,  aspirations,  making  of  the  twain 
that  eternal  oneness,  which,  given  to  man  and  woman,  is  the 
crowning  blessedness  of  life  —  the  one  precious  gift  "  whose 
value  is  above  rubies,  which  cannot  be  gotten  for  gold,  neither 
shall  silver  be  weighed  for  the  price  thereof." 

So  each  day  was  a  kiud  of  renewal,  or  rather  intensification 
of  the  first  surprise  and  blessedness  of  the  betrothal.  The  old 
mythology,  that  gave  blind  eyes  to  Love,  discerned  only  a  partial 
truth,  for  no  eyes  but  Love's  ever  behold  the  angel  side  that  is 
in  us,  dimmed,  blurred,  defaced  by  the  weakness  and  sin  of  our 
humanity. 

It  was  something  to  be  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  love  like  this 
something  of  its  exaltation  of  calm  and  joy  communicated  itself 


4X3  DAEETLL    GAP,   OR 

to  the  household  in  those  days  —  days  such  as  Rusha  verily  be- 
lieved had  never  smiled  out  of  heaven  with  such  lavish  glory 
of  life  since  Adam  and  Eve  walked  together  in  the  still  beauty 
of  Eden. 

Mrs.  Darryll,  though  she  stood  in  some  awe  of  her  prospec- 
tive son-in-law,  could  not  but  take  a  mother's  pride  and  delight 
in  the  thought  that  Rusha  was  "  to  make  such  a  match,"  the  old 
natural  feelings  stirring  a  moment,  but  mostly  smothered  in  a 
sigh,  an  aching  sigh  for  the  dead,  a  bitterer  one  for  the  living. 

Guy  and  Agnes  had,  of  course,  their  young  curiosity  alert, 
and  their  little  jokes  over  the  lovers,  sometimes  forgetting  them- 
selves and  growing  loud  and  gay  among  these,  and  then,  with  a 
sudden  remembrance,  settling  back  into  silence,  as  though  the 
right  of  their  youth  had  been  a  wrong  to  the  dead. 

On  one  of  these  days,  which  idealized  and  transfigured  all 
nature,  Guy  and  Agnes  watched,  from  one  of  the  side  windows, 
the  lovers,  as  they  went  down  the  road  to  some  new  landscape 
picture  which  the  doctor  had  chanced  on  the  day  before. 

He  was  always  finding  pretexts  of  one  sort  and  another  to 
keep  Rusha  out  of  doors. 

Agnes  drew  in  her  head  with  a  little  long-drawn  breath,  and 
the  feeling  that  had  been  at  work,  as  she  gazed,  found  expres- 
sion in,  — 

"  After  all,  I  think  it  must  be  real  nice  to  be  in  love  and  have 
a  beau ! " 

"  That  depends  upon  who  is  the  beau,  I  should  say.  Capital 
one  the  doctor  must  be  !  " 

"  O,  he's  perfectly  splendid !  "  put  in  Agnes,  with  immense 
emphasis.  "  I  should  be  in  love  with  him  myself,  if  he  wasn't 
to  be  my  brother-in-law." 

That  name  seemed  somehow  to  touch  both  of  the  young  souls 
with  a  stab  of  pain. 

"  Last  night,"  continued  Agnes,  her  blue  eyes  blurring  with 
tears,  "  when  you  were  gone  into  Littleton,  and  I  was  sitting 
there  by  the  window,  feeling  so  lonely,  and  thinking  of  poor,  dear 
Tom,  the  doctor  came  to  me,  and  put  his  arm  around  me.  '  My 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  41g 

little  sister  that  is  to  be,'  he  said,  <  I  can't  wait  any  longer  be- 
fore I  take  my  rights  ; '  and  then  he  sat  down,  and  we  had  such  a 
nice  long  talk  together.  O,  it  was  beautiful !  I  thought  I  should 
always  stand  in  fear  of  him,  he  seems  so  good  and  grand  — just 
like  some  hero  in  a  novel,  that  one  wouldn't  like  to  have  round 
in  common,  every-day  life,  though." 

"  But  the  doctor  isn't  one  of  your  dressed-up,  pattern  heroes. 
He's  made  of  the  real  stuff  that  '11  stand  every-day  wear  and 
tear,  and  they're  the  only  heroes  worth  having,  by  George !  " 

Agnes  Darryll  was  a  girl  still,  but  these  sorrows  had  left  her 
with  some  new  thoughtfulness  and  womanhood. 

"  Guy,"  she  said,  in  her  kindest  way,  "  I  wish  you'd  try  to 
leave  off  some  of  that  slang  talk.  Don't  you  know  Tom  did 
before  he  went  to  the  war  ?  and  the  doctor  never  uses  it,  either  " 

"  Well,  it  comes  to  a  fellow  like  second  nature,  hang  it  — 
there  it  goes  again.  I  never  shall  be  Tom  to  any  of  you, 
Aggie,"  a  little  tremor  on  his  lip,  where  there  was  a  little  furze 
of  brown  beard  already. 

"  You'll  be  a  good  old  Guy,  anyhow,"  answered  Agnes,  with 
a  sudden  rush  of  affection,  "  and  we  sort  of  seem  all  that's  left 
to  each  other  now  !  "  the  bright  eyes  blurring  over  again  with 
tears. 

"  That's  so  !  "  something  struggling  in  his  face  that  brought 
it  out  in  a  new  character.  "  I  mean  to  try  to  be  a  better  son 
and  brother  than  I  should  ever  have  turned  out  if  Tom  wasn't 
where  he  is,  and  if  Andrew  hadn't  — "  that  last  sentence,  as 
usual,  left  for  silence  to  point. 

While  this  talk  was  going  on  in  the  house,  —  talk  which  told 
what  training  the  summer's  sorrow  had  done  for  the  two  young 
lives  there,  —  the  doctor  and  Rusha  had  turned  aside  from  the 
main  road,  and  wandered  down  a  steep  foot-path  to  the  bank  of 
a  small  river,  with  a  soft  whisper  and  titter  of  its  waters  among 
the  stones,  while  it  hurried  with  some  pleasant  secret  to  the  dis- 
tant sea. 

Here  the  roots  of  some  mighty  tree  had  been  torn  up  years 
ago,  and  left  to  disfigure  the  landscape  ;  but  a  wild  clematis  vine 


420  DAEETLL    GAP,    OR 

had  taken  pity  on  it,  and  smothered  it  in  green  caresses,  and 
showered  over  it  the  white  glory  of  its  blossoms,  until  it  sat,  a 
very  crown  of  beauty  on  the  bank. 

The  doctor  commenced  laying  away  carefully  the  vines  from 
one  side  of  the  stump. 

"  "What  are  you  going  to  do?"  asked  Eusha,  standing  by  and 
gazing  with  her  smiling  eyes. 

"  Only  putting  away  the  draperies  so  that  my  Queen  can  sit 
on  her  throne,"  he  said. 

"  But  you'll  spoil  the  throne,  and  besides,  it's  sacrilege  to  sit 
there  ! " 

He  answered,  by  placing  her,  with  that  strong,  gentle  touch  of 
his,  on  the  smooth  place  he  had  cleared  from  the  top  of  the 
stump,  without  breaking  so  much  as  a  single  tendril.  Then  he 
sat  down  on  the  grass  beside  her,  in  the  cool  splendor  of  the 
September  morning,  and  a  very  trance  of  silence  came  upon 
them  both ;  yet  her  face  was  alive  all  over,  and  quickened  with 
the  thought  and  feeling  that  were  throbbing  underneath  it. 

So  Fletcher  Rochford  gazed  up  into  the  face  of  his  Queen, 
the  great  tenderness  in  his  eyes  just  touched  with  reverence  —  that 
reverence  which  the  nature  of  a  lofty  as  well  as  loving  man 
gives  to  the  woman  of  his  heart. 

The  river  lisped  and  tittered  along  on  its  way  to  the  sea,  and 
Rusha  still  sat  silent,  her  unconscious  fingers  at  play  with  the 
spray  of  clematis,  and  her  face  in  a  trance  of  happiness  on  which 
tremulous  shadows  came  and  went,  and  Dr.  Rochford  gazed  and 
gazed,  and  felt  he  could  have  gazed  forever  at  the  rare,  delicate, 
dreaming  face  above  him.  At  last  she  stirred  suddenly,  and 
her  eyes  met  the  love  and  worship  in  his.  Her  own  answered 
that  with  a  fine  flush  gathering  in  her  cheeks. 

"  What  have  you  been  thinking  of,  my  Queen  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  O,  a  good  many  things,  doctor  !  " 

The  Christian  name  always  had  a  second  thought.  Out  of 
old  habit  the  professional  title  came  first ;  but  the  other  could 
afford  to  wait  —  in  its  time  it  would  have  precedence  forever. 

"  I  saw  that  in  your  face,  but  I  did  not  find  the  key-note." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  421 

One  of  those  long-drawn,  fluttering  breaths  that  always  pre- 
ceded some  inmost  revelation  of  herself. 

"  I  remember,  for  one  thing,  I  was  wondering  why  God  had 
given  me  this  great,  unutterable  happiness  of  love,  and  denied 
it  to  so  many  other  women,  so  much  better  than  I  am." 

He  lifted  his  eyebrows  in  a  way  that  implied  absolute  scepti- 
cism over  that  last  clause,  but  his  remark  answered  hers  in  a 
general  way. 

"  I  believe  that  the  denial  of  which  you  speak,  hard  as  it  is 
for  our  own  sex,  is  still  harder  and  sadder  for  yours !  " 

"  I  have  often  thought,"  she  contiutted,  the  shadow  growing 
in  her  face,  which  still  retained  its  inherent  peace  and  brightness, 
"  that  of  all  the  dreadful  mysteries  of  human  life,  this  one  of 
love  is  the  strangest  and  saddest.  Look  at  marriage  as  it  is  in 
the  world.  How  many  seem  united  for  no  other  purpose  than 
their  mutual  misery !  How  the  natures  that  could  make  each 
other  blessed  and  happy,  seem  never  to  be  brought  together,  to 
be  held  apart  by  some  cruel  destiny !  How  many  of  the  fine 
and  noblest  hearts  of  my  own  sex  go  through  life  starved 
and  aching,  whether  they  be  married  or  not,  for  a  love  that  is 
given  to  the  weakest  and  the  shallowest  of  women  —  women 
who  have  not  souls  deep  enough  to  receive  the  tide,  and  the  love 
is  turned  back  on  itself,  and  the  great  fountains  grow  dry  or 
turn  to  bitterness!  Think  of  all  the  women,  too,  to  whose 
starved  and  shrunken  souls  a  true  love  would  come  like  dew  and 
bloom,  expanding  and  exalting  their  whole  natures ! 

"  When  I  think  of  all  the  possibilities' that  lie  in  so  many  souls 
of  my  sex,  like  music  asleep  in  sweet  harps  that  no  master  hand 
ever  touches,  —  when  I  think  of  the  loneliness,  and  heartache, 
and  desolation,  that,  for  lack  of  the  tenderness  that  stimulates 
and  idealizes^  fall  to  the  lot  of  most  women,  — I  feel  like  saying, 
«  Dear  God,  what  does  it  all  mean  that  Thou  hast  bestowed  this 

upon  me  ?  " 

"Dear  Rusha,"  he  said,  finding  and  stilling  the  han 
kept  its  nervous  toying  with  the  clematis  spray,  "  I  have  been 
asking  myself  just  such  a  question  all  these  last  days ! ' 
36 


422  DAERTLL    GAP,   OR 

"  It  does  not  fit  you  so  well  as  me  —  but  for  those  others  — 
how  did  you  answer  it?" 

"As  I  have  learned  to  all  the  other  mysteries  of  life  —  even 
this  saddest  one  —  by  trusting  that  God  will  make  it  all  right  at 
last.  '  If  we  do  not  believe  Him,  yet  He  abideth  faithful  —  He 
cannot  deny  Himself'  " 

How  her  eyes  thanked  him  for  those  words  then,  though  she 
did  not  speak  one  herself! 

He  went  on.  "And  then  we  are  always  forgetting  —  it  is 
natural  enough  —  how  small  a  part  of  existence  time  is  to  any 
of  us  ;  how  soon  these  merely  finite  circumstances  and  relations 
are  all  to  be  broken  up  ;  and  how  very  small  and  incomplete 
they  must  look  to  Him  who  has  eternity  in  which  to  work  out 
His  own  purposes  towards  each  soul  of  us.  He  has  given  to 
me,  O  dearly  beloved,  a  happiness  whose  fulness  and  complete- 
ness I  should  never  have  dared  to  ask  of  Him,  or  to  dream  of, 
in  this  world.  Shall  I  doubt  that  He  will  give  as  much  in  some 
way,  and  in  some  finer,  future  life,  to  the  souls  of  men  and 
women  around  me  ?  " 

Her  faith  sprang  up  to  meet  the  stature  of  his. 

"  I  will  leave  the  doubt  and  the  fear  for  others  with  Him,  and 
take  mine  own  gift,  as  He  tells  us,  thankfully,"  she  said ;  and 
here  the  thread  of  the  conversation  was  broken  a  while. 

She  took  it  up  again  in  her  swift,  abrupt  way,  "  coming 
always  out  of  her  silences  with  some  new  treasure  of  fancy  or 
feeling,"  the  man  at  her  feet  thought. 

"Fletcher,  I  am  afraid,"  she  said  —  her  voice  paused  there, 
as  though  it,  too,  was  half  afraid  of  itself. 

"Of  what,  dear  child?" 

"  That  this  happiness  of  ours  is  too  complete  and  blessed  to 
last  in  a  world  like  this." 

She  paused  here  ;  but,  without  answering,  he  signed  to  her  to 
go  on. 

"  Looking  abroad  upon  human  life,  I  see  how  dreams  fade 
and  promises  fail,  and  hearts  once  bound  up  in  each  other  fall 
apart,  until  the  life  narrows  and  darkens,  and  settles  away  at 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  .  423 

last  into  every-day  wear  and  tear,  and  petty  details,  and  chafing 
on  every  side  —  all  the  warmth  and  brightness  faded  out  of  it  — 
nothing  left  but' the  bare  sands  and  the  black,  oozing  mud,  after 
the  tides  are  gone  out.  And  though  our  future  together  wears 
to  my  gaze,  now,  the  very  peace  and  joy  of  Paradise,  I  some- 
times wonder  whether  that,  too,  is  only  a  mirage  —  whether  the 
daily  gravitation  will  not  bear  us  down  also,  as  it  seems  to  the 
souls  who  have  gone  before  us  —  whether  there  is  any  possibility 
of  carrying  beyond  the  honeymoon  the  poetry  and  idealization 
of  love ! " 

Solemn  questions,  which  the  future  could  alone  fully  answer ; 
but  Rusha  Darryll's  soul  was  always  asking  solemn  questions. 

"  Dear  child,"  said  the  doctor,  getting  up,  and  smoothing  the 
fine,  brown  hair,  "  our  faith  must  come  to  help  us  out  here 
again.     Let  us  take  the  present  good  without  darkening  it  by 
fears  for  our  future.     God  can  take  care  of  that  also.     Then, 
too,  my  observation,  which  you  know  has  not  been  a  narrow 
one,  has  satisfied  me  that  people  start  out  on  their  married  life 
with  too  little  capital  of  common  sense  ;  the  love  that  exalts, 
the  poetry  that  idealizes,  must,  after  all,  have  its  foundation  in 
that.     If  one  side  of  our  lives  has  a  tendency,  as  it  certainly 
does,  to   gravitate  downwards,  we  must  guard  ourselves  the 
more  carefully,  letting  no  grace  of  our  betrothal,  no  courtesies 
of  bridal  or  honeymoon,  be  forgotten-  or  lost  in  the  daily  house 
life  that  lies  beyond.     Married  people  are  so  apt  to  let  these  slip, 
and  first  grow  common  and  then  cross  to  each  other !  But,  little 
soul,  don't  fret  yourself  in  any  wise.     We'll  try  and  keep  cleat 
of  those  rocks  on  which  so  many  a  stately  craft  has  gone 
wreck  ;  and  then,  too,  we  shall  not  have  a  wide  range  of  , 
ests  apart,  as  too  many  husbands  and  wives  have.     We  mee 
common  ground,  in  our  love  of  all  forms  of  artist*  culture,  ol 
nature,  of  books,  of  human  life  evtm.     We  shall  study  and  grow 
and  I  hope  do  some  good  together ;  and  for  the  rest  I 
have  something  tough  enough  to  stand  all  the  test  and  s  nun .of 
daily  life.     I  think  the  face  beneath  this  hair,"  and  he  t 
up  to  his  gaze,  "will  never  grow  less  fair  or  precious  to 


424  DAEEYLL    GAP,   OR 

but  whatever  the  world  may  say  of  it,  I  shall  see  there  some 
new  beauty  and  sweetness  every  day  for  all  the  days  to  come." 

A  little  laugh,  sweet  as  the  song  of  a  brown-throated  swallow. 

"  When  it  grows  old  and  gathers  wrinkles,  and  the  hair  round 
it  is  gray  ?  "  she  said. 

""When  it  is  all  that,  for  to  me  it  will  wear  an  eternal 
youth  !  "  he  answered. 

A  lover's  talk,  you  see. 

She  was  silent  so  long,  that  he  came  round  and  settled  himself 
on  the  grass  again  to  see  her  face.  She  took  up  the  talk  once 
more,  very  near  where  he  had  left  it  off. 

"  But  it  was  not  of  myself,  doc —  Fletcher,  so  much  as  of 
you,  that  I  was  speaking.  I  see  all  the  time  that  you  are  think- 
ing of  me  as  something  better  and  nobler,  a  thousand  times, 
than  I  am.  I  cannot  deny  that  this  is  very  sweet ;  and  yet  I 
tremble  when  I  think  how  different  is  this  real  Rusha  from  the 
Rusha  of  your  loving.  There  are  my  dark  moods,  my  miserable 
selfishnesses,  my  quick  temper,  my  fretfulnesses  —  " 

"  There,  that's  enough ;  you've  done  full  duty  at  the  con- 
fessional," he  interrupted,  playfully. 

"  But  the  half  hasn't  been  told  you,"  she  insisted ;  and  if 
there  was  a  little  surface  of  jest,  it  played  upon  solid  founda- 
tions of  earnestness.  "  I  fear  these  fatal  faults  of  mine  will 
drag  me  down  to  their  lower  depths,  and  that  I  have  not  strength 
and  persistency  enough  to  keep  by  your  side  in  that  finer  atmos- 
phere and  those  higher  levels  to  which  I  at  least  aspire." 

"Rusha,"  said  the  doctor,  gravely  enough  this  time,  "do 
you  suppose  I  have  no  faults?" 

She  looked  at  him  a  moment  doubtfully. 

"  I  suppose  you  must  have,  for  you  are  human,  like  the  rest 
of  us  ;  but  I  have  yet  to  make  a  discovery  of  the  first  one." 

"  Well,  then,  take  my  word  for  it,  Rusha,  the  faults  are  ter- 
rible facts,  and  I  look  to  you  to  help  me  —  to  make  me,  by  your 
life,  example,  affection,  a  better,  nobler  man." 

Her  look  of  amazed  helplessness  struck  him  so  comically  that 
the  man  had  to  make  an  effort  not  to  laugh. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  425 

"  I  see,"  he  said,  "  it  will  be  the  old  discipline  over  again  — 
just  the  sort  of  atmosphere  and  companionship  to  foster  the  worst 
faults  in  me  !  " 

"What  do  you  mean,  doctor?"  He  was  evidently  beyond 
her  depth  now. 

"  I  mean  that,  take  me  at  the  best,  I'm  a  selfish  fellow,  Rusha, 
naturally  dominant,  exacting,  self-assertive,  loving  to  possess 
power,  preeminence  in  all  things.  Sore  tussles,  and  long  and 
many,  have  I  had  with  these  besetting  sins  of  mine.  And  you 
will  not  see,  little  blind  worshipper,  how  my  temptations  lie  in 
that  direction,  nor  help  me  to  overcome  them.  It  has  always 
been  my  misfortune  that  the  women  I  loved  best  have  been  those 
who  could  not  or  would  not  see  my  failings,  and  whose  whole 
influence  has  been  of  just  the  sort  to  foster  my  pride  and  vanity, 
and  all  the  dangers  that  lie  in  their  wake." 

"  I  don't  believe  one  word  of  all  this,  Fletcher,"  with  a  little 
decided  shake  of  her  head.  "  You  never  could  blind  me,  nor 
those  other  women  of  whom  you  speak.  You  deal  hardly  with 
yourself  because  your  ideal  is  so  lofty." 

His  smile  brightened  down  upon  her,  interfused  with  exceed- 
ing tenderness,  the  most  beautiful  thing,  Rusha  thought,  she  had 
ever  seen  in  her  life.  Others  had  thought  so,  weary,  desolate, 
hardened  souls  of  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  looking  up 
from  sick  and  dying  beds,  oftenest  surrounded  with  squalor  and 
misery,  when  the  warmth  and  light  of  that  smile  had  entered 
their  poor,  dark,  frozen  hearts,  to  them,  too,  the  "  most  beauti- 
ful thing  they  had  ever  seen."  But  the  smile  now  was  different 
from  all  these  —  only  Dr.  Rochford's  sisters  had  had  glimpses 
of  such  a  one. 

"  Setting  up  idols  and  worshipping  them !   It  is  the  way  of 
your  sex  from  our  first  mother  downwards.     But,  my  little  girl, 
there  is  one  Ideal,  only,  set  for  us  all,  men  and  women  alike, 
and  you  know  what  He  said  and  what  He  thought  of  seeking 
after  mere  personal  distinction,  eminence,  aggrandizement 
any  sort !     '  Meek  and  lowly  of  heart,'  that  was  what  He  was  - 
what  He  bade  those  be  who  loved  Him." 
36* 


426  DAERYLL    GAP,   OR 

Her  face  grew  still  and  solemn  a  moment  with  that  thought ; 
then  it  flashed  up  into  one  of  its  most  inspired  moods. 
-  "  Yes,"  she  said,  "  that  Christ  Ideal  is  the  only  one  ;  and  yet, 
how  dim  and  blurred  are  the  outlines,  when  we  seek  for  them 
in  this  world !  Many  bear  the  name  —  so  few  copy  in  daily 
living  the  original.  Look  at  the  churches,  with  their  pride, 
their  coldness,  their  petty  ambitions  and  rivalries.  Professing 
to  reveal  Christ  to  the  world,  and  to  share  His  spirit,  how  little 
good  they  do,  how  much  they  leave  undone  !  If  they  did  their 
duty  —  these  churches,  who  call  themselves  Christ's  —  would  the 
poor  be  neglected  and  forgotten  as  they  are  ?  Would  the  little 
children  be  left  to  come  up  in  vice  and  wretchedness  to  manhood 
and  womanhood,  cursing  themselves  and  others?  Would  poor, 
lost  girls  go  homeless,  haunting  the  streets  of  the  great  cities, 
with  none  to  pity  or  to  rescue  them  ?  Would  there  be  all  this 
aching,  and  grief,  and  sin  in  the  world  if  the  men  and  women 
who  profess  Christ  believed  in  the  brotherhood  of  humanity,  and 
acknowledging  the  tie,  followed  His  example  of  doing  good,  for- 
getting their  social  ambitions,  their  selfishnesses  of  every  sort, 
and  living,  as  far  as  they  could,  the  life  that  He  did  among 
men ! " 

And  the  doctor  answered  her :  — 

"  Great  is  the  faithlessness  —  great  is  the  sin  of  the  churches. 
Sometimes,  through  the  lapse  of  all  these  ages,  *E  seem  to  hear 
the  thunder  of  the  awful  curse  rolling  down  its  long  path  of  cen- 
turies to  our  own  day  and  generation,  '  Woe  unto  you,  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  ! ' ' 

She  shivered  a  little,  even  in  the  soft  warmth  of  the  Septem- 
ber noon. 

"  Yet,"  she  said,  "  despite  all  they  fail  to  do,  we  will  not 
deny  the  salt  that  has  not  lost  its  savor,  nor  the  good  for  God 
and  man  which  the  churches  have  wrought  in  the  world. 
Sweep  them  away,  and  what  would  become  of  our  land?  Our 
school-houses  and  our  civilization  would  not  save  us,  any  more 
than  their  art  and  their  culture  did  the  Greeks,  nor  their  juris- 
prudence and  philosophy  the  Romans." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  437 

And  again  the  doctor  answered  her.  "  When  I  have  been 
most  impatient  and  disgusted  with  myself,  I  have  found  a  real 
comfort  in  the  thought  that  God  had  faith  in  me,  patience  with 
me,  and  I  must  therefore  have  both  for  myself.  He,  too,  has 
His  long  patience  with  the  world  —  His  hope  for  it  as  it  goes 
stumbling  on  through  the  ages  before  Him,  with  its  burden  of 
wrong  and  misery.  Poor  old  world  !  God  is  over  it.  Let  us 
take  courage,  and  be  of  good  heart,  my  Rusha." 

So  the  talk  that  went  into  these  deep  places  of  time  and  eter- 
nity, drifted  back  to  themselves  at  last,  and  went  out  to  a  future 
that  seemed  to  the  lovers  "  fair  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord." 
What  lights  shone  along  the  mornings  of  that  future,  what 
stars  smiled  along  those  evenings,  what  plans  they  laid  for  study 
and  growth  in  all  directions,  how  both  souls  thirsted  for  that 
blessed  time  when  they  should  have  their  own  home  and  their 
own  lives  together,  closing  all,  as  we  closed  everything  through 
those  four  awful,  glorious  years,  with  "  When  the  war  is  over." 

And  her  .face  did  not  lose  its  brightness  even  when  he  told 
her  that  two  more  days  must  be  the  outermost  limit  of  the  fur- 
lough which  he  had  granted  himself.  , 

"  I  shall  be  lonely  after  you  are  gone,  Fletcher,"  she  said ; 
"  but  yet  I  do  not  think  it  can  ever  be  the  loneliness  and  deso- 
lation of  those  old  days  before  I  knew  you,  and  went  aching 
and  athirst,  not  knowing  what  either  meant.  It  seems  as 
though,  if  we  were  at  different  ends  of  the  earth,  I  should  still 
feel  and  know  your  presence,  as  if  something  of  yourself  would 
interfuse  the  very  air  about  me.  O,  Fletcher,  how  rich  and 
complete  your  love  has  made  my  life  ! ' 

This  time  he  did  not  answer  with  any  words.     He  turned  up 
softly  and  reverently  the  sweet  face,  thrilled  all  over  with  the 
feeling  which  she  had  just  put  into  speech  for  him,  and  the  kiss 
he  pressed  on  the  quivering  lips  was  like  the  sign  and  seal  c 
new  betrothal  to  them  both. 


428  DARETLL   GAP,   OR 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

RTTSHA  was  right.  The  old  loneliness  and  depression  did  not 
overcome  her  even  when  Dr.  Rochford  went  away.  Not  that 
I  want  to  claim  too  much  for  her  here.  There  were  times 
when  the  thought  of  Tom  brought  back  the  sharp  and  bitter 
ache  which  the  living  bear  for  the  dead  ;  there  were  times  when 
a  fear  for  him,  loved  with  a  different,  in  some  sense  a  dearer 
love  than  that  she  had  given  Tom  —  for  him  who  might  be  at 
that  moment  in  the  hot  carnage  of  battle  —  seemed  to  tear  her 
heart  with  its  sudden  pang.  But  it  steadied  the  moment  after 
in  the  courage  and  the  calm  that  God  gives  more  or  less  to 
those  who  love  and  trust  Him. 

Meanwhile,  the  glory  of  the  year  was  departing.  The  color 
and  warmth  of  the  days  passed  into  chills  and  glooms  of  sky 
and  earth.  The  mountains  sank  away,  and  were  buried  over 
with  gray  clods  of  cloud,  and  the  cold,  white  mists  crept  along 
the  land. 

Still  the  family  lingered  at  the  mountains,  dreading  somehow 
to  go  back  into  the  great  clamoring  world,  and  into  the  splendid 
home  where  everything  would  remind  them  of  all  the  young 
lives  gone  out  of  it. 

"  Half  of  the  children  !  "  Mrs.  Darryll  would  moan  some- 
times to  herself,  in  a  way  that  was  pitiful  enough  ;  but  Rusha 
would  always  come  round  to  her  mother's  side  with  a  little 
caress,  and  a,  — 

"  Now,  mother,  don't  say  that,  when  you  know  you  have 
another  son  in  dear  Tom's  place  !  " 

And  the  mother,  clinging  to  her  —  they  all  clung  to  Rusha 
now-a-days  —  would  smile  a  little,  sad,  fond  smile,  and  mur- 
mur, — 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  429 

"  Dear  child,  I  should  have  died  if  it  hadn't  been  for  you." 

Days  with  blinding  rains  and  fierce  winds  shut  down  upon 
them,  and  they  built  fires  on  the  cottage  hearths,  and  sat  in 
their  warm  glow,  and  Rusha  dreamed  by  their  light,  the  old 
dreams  of  her  childhood,  shaded  and  brightened  with  something 
she  had  lived  of  sorrow  and  joy ;  for  somehow  our  experiences 
always  work  themselves  into  the  texture  of  our  dreams. 

So  the  Darrylls  lingered  at  the  mountains  until  late  in  Octo- 
ber ;  and  then,  business  rendering  it  impossible  for  the  head  of 
the  family  to  make  any  further  journeys  northward,  they  pre- 
pared to  return  to  the  city. 

Rusha  watched  the  dismantling  of  the  walls  and  the  general 
preparations  for  departure  with  a  feeling  of  almost  keen  regret. 
If  among  these  mountains  the  greatest  sorrow  of  her  life  had 
come  to  her,  so  had  also  its  greatest  joy  ;  and  they  were  invested 
with  a  mysterious  sacredness  in  her  eyes.  Thoughts  of  this 
sort  —  thoughts  which  took  in  the  past  and  the  future  —  were 
crowding  heavily  upon  her  one  day,  when  she  had  darted  out 
of  the  gate  in  a  lull  of  the  high  wind  to  gather  some  leaves  on 
a  steep  bank  opposite  the  house  —  a  cluster  of  ferns  with  a 
crimson  heat  curling  along  their  edges,  and  golden  maples  with 
tawny  freckles,  and  green  ones  veined  with  scarlet,  and  a  handful 
of  huckleberry  boughs,  a  very  heap  of  radiant  color. 

"  I  shall  carry  back  something  of  you,  my  mountains  ! "  she 
said,  surveying  her  handkerchief  of  frost-bitten  leaves,  much  as 
somebody  else  might  a  heap  of  jewels. 

"  Rusha !  "     Did  the  wind  moaning  like   some  wild  thing 
amon*  the  valleys,  pawing  up  and  down  the  mountains  like 
some  monster  in  wrath,  pause  suddenly,  and  take  up  into 
tones  that  tremulous  whisper? 

"  Rusha  !  "     This  time  the  voice  was  closer,  but  no  voi 
winds  ever  held  that  human  sound  with  such  burdens  of  unut- 
terable feeling;    she  turned,  staring  all  about,  and  there 
stood  —  the  handkerchief  dropped  from  her  hands,  and  the  i 

seized  it. 

"  O,  Andrew  !  Andrew ! " 


430  DAEBTLL    GAP,    OR 

They  hung  upon  each  other's  necks,  and  they  kissed  each 
other  over  and  over  —  she  fairly  moaning  out  her  delight  arnid 
her  sobbing  ;  and  he,  —  if  he  cried  more  softly,  the  tears  were 
hardly  less. 

" How  did  you  get  here? "  she  said,  at  last. 

"  The  letter  came  that  told  me  about  Tom,  and  I  was  on  my 
way  home  with  the  next  steamer." 

"  You  dear  boy ! "  and  then,  again,  only  tears  and  kisses. 
"  How  good  —  how  good  it  seems  !  " 

" Have  they  seen  you  at  the  house? "  her  very  next  question. 

"  No.  I  got  out  of  the  stage  half  a  mile  off,  and  walked  up, 
thinking  I  would  take  my  own  time  and  way  to  show  myself. 
I  caught  sight  of  you  wheu  I  was  on  top  of  the  hill  over  there 
in  the  road.  O,  Rusha,  it  made  my  heart  leap  !  " 

"  Sit  right  down  here.  You  musn't  go  in  yet.  We  must 
have  a  talk  together  first." 

It  was  more  than  two  years  since  Andrew  had  seen  the  face 
of  one  of  his  household,  and  the  thoughts  of  both  could  not  but 
go  back  to  that  dreadful  parting  on  the  steamer.  How  much 
had  happened  since  then !  Tom  had  gone,  and  Ella,  too, 
another  way,  and  Rusha  had  taken  up  another  life  into  her 
own ;  but  this  last  Andrew  learned  first  from  other  lips  than 
hers. 

She  looked  him  over  and  over  with  her  hungry  eyes,  as  he 
did  her.  The  two  years  had  made  a  wonderful  change  in  him  ; 
but,  after  all,  the  change  was  less  in  looks  than  in  manner ;  the 
old  braggart  air  was  all  gone  !  It  was  true  he  was  Andrew 
still,  with  the  slang  cropping  out  here  and  there  ;  but  he  was  in 
every  wise  developed  and  improved  —  some  new  power  had  been 
at  work  with  him. 

"  You  did  just  the  best  thing  in  the  world  !  "  she  said,  some- 
where, in  the  eager,  breathless  talk  that  did  not  pause  for  hours. 
"  We  shall  all  be  so  glad  to  welcome  you  home,  Andrew  !  " 

"  I  was  the  oldest  of  the  boys.  I  saw  that  my  place  was 
here,  now  Tom  was  gone  —  here,  to  live  down  the  past,  and  do 
some  credit  to  the  future.  I  do  not  come  back  as  I  went, 
Rusha." 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  43} 

"  I  knew  you  would  not,  Andrew.  Tom  aud  I  always  had 
faith  in  you." 

"  I  hadn't  much  in  myself  sometimes ;  but  —  "  he  rose  and 
Stood  before  her,  his  voice  and  eyes  settling  into  solemn  ear- 
nestness — '"  look  me  in  the  face,  Rusha."  She  looked  up.  "  Do 
you  believe  that  I  am  going  to  tell  you  the  truth  ?  " 

"  Every  word,  Andrew." 

"  During  these  two  years  I  have  been  in  the  midst  of  fiery 
temptations  ;  but  the  thought  of  you  and  what  you  did  once  have 
saved  me.  Eusha,  in  all  this  time  I  have  done  no  deed,  I  have 
entered  no  place,  which  I  should  blush  to  acknowledge  to  you  !  " 

Her  happy  tears  flowed  like  rain. 

A  month  ago  she  thought  that  the  storm  had  passed  over  her 
life,  leaving  in  its  track  only  desolation  and  death  ;  and  this  was 
what  God  had  kept  for  her  a  little  beyond ! 

Andrew  was  not  disposed  to  talk  much  of  himself.  It  seemed 
as  though  he  would  never  get  through  with  questions  about  each 
of  his  family.  There  was  all  Ella's  marriage  to  go  over  with 
again,  for  Andrew  knew  little  beyond  the  bare  fact ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  these  domestic  recitals  there  came  down,  suddenly,  one 
of  those  swift,  thick  squalls  of  wind  and  rain  which  are  so  fre- 
quent among  the  mountains,  and  which  drove  them  both  into 
the  house  before  they  knew  exactly  what  they  were  about. 

Andrew  Darryll  stood  in  the  front  hall,  actually  trembling, 
and  white  as  a  scared  child,  at  the  thought  of  seeing  his  mother. 

Rusha,  agitated  quite  as  much  as  himself,  in  a  little  different 
way.  paused  with  her  hand  on  the  door-knob,  turned  back,  and 
whispered,  — 

"  You  must  expect  to  find  mother  a  good  deal  changed,  Andrew. 
All  these  troubles  have  told  on  her ;  "  she  did  not  think  how  he 
must  wince  under  those  words,  "  and  any  shock  of  surprise 
might  overcome  her  at  present.  I'll  go  in  first  and  smooth  the 
way  a  little  for  you  ; "  and  she  went  in,  leaving  the  young,  strong 
man  standing  there. 

"  Where  have  you  been,  my  child?"  asked  the  lady,  a; 
daughter  entered.     "  The  dinner  bell  has  rung  twice  already." 


432  D ARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

Mrs.  Darryll  was  sitting  before  the  bright  wood-fire,  wrapped 
in  a  heavy  shawl.  The  mountain  chills  began  already  to  try 
her  severely. 

"  Mother,"  said  Rusha,  going  up  softly  and  laying  her  hand 
on  the  lady's  shoulder,  "  something  has  happened  which  will 
surprise  you  very  much,  and  make  you  and  all  the  rest  of  us  so 
glad !  O,  dear !  what  a  fool  I  am !  "  for  she  found  herself 
crying. 

"  O,  Rusha,  what  is  the  matter?"  cried  the  poor  lady, 
the  tears  alarming  her  beyond  all  assurance  of  words. 

"  Only  be  quiet,  mother,  and  you  shall  know.  The  very  best 
thing  in  the  world  has  happened  to  us  all !  " 

"  But  what  makes  you  cry,  then?  "  staring  at  her  daughter. 

The  door  stood  ajar,  so  Andrew  had  heard  every  word  that 
passed  betwixt  his  mother  atid  sister.  He  could  bear  it  no 
longer.  Impetuous,  as  were  all  the  Darryll  sons  and  daughters, 
he  burst  open  the  door  now,  and  rushed  in. 

"  Mother,  don't  you  know  your  boy?  "  he  cried. 

She  looked  up,  doubting  a  moment  whether  Tom  had  risen 
from  the  dead  and  stood  beside  her ;  then,  as  she  gazed,  the 
truth  overcame  her  mightily  —  her  cry  brought  Guy  and  Agnes 
into  the  room,  and  —  with  the  blessedness  of  that  hour  who 
shall  dare  to  intermeddle? 

"  I  say,  Andrew,  old  boy,  it's  bully  to  have  you  back  here 
again ! " 

Guy  concentrated,  after  his  own  fashion,  in  this  expression, 
the  general  feeling  of  the  family,  as  they  all  sat  around  the 
wood-fire  that  evening.  It  was  to  be  their  last  at  the  moun- 
tains, and  their  hearts  were  all  softened  with  one  of  those  moods 
that  only  great  experiences  of  life,  sorrowful  and  joyful,  can 
bring  to  us.  Their  memories  went  back  and  forward,  gathering 
up  the  bitterness  and  the  sweetness  of  these  months  ;  and  mean- 
while, the  wind  raved  outside  like  some  wild,  homeless  thing  let 
loose  in  the  darkness,  and  the  swift  clouds,  going  back  and  forth, 
shook  down,  every  few'  minutes,  wild  storms  of  rain. 

"And  I  tell  you,  it  seems  bully  to   be   back  here  among 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  433 

you  all  once  more  —  the  very  happiest  hour  of  my  life,  I  do 
believe ! " 

Andrew  sat  next  to  his  mother.  She  could  never  grow  tired 
of  feasting  her  eyes  on  the  tall,  manly  figure  of  the  son  that  had 
come  back  to  her  from  a  grave  darker  and  colder  than  the  one 
where  we  lay  our  beloved,  with  that  last  farewell,  not  of  words, 
but  of  tears  and  kisses.  Agnes  sat  on  the  other  side  —  her 
head  on  her  brother's  knee,  only  lifting  it  every  few  minutes  to 
look  in  his  face,  a  kind  of  half-awed  wonder  in  her  own,  as 
though  she  could  not  get  used  to  him  yet,  or  the  fact  that  he 
was  really  there ! 

"  It  does  seem  splendid  to  have  another  brother  here ;  but, 
somehow,  you  don't  seem  just  like  the  Andrew  you  did  when 
you  went  away." 

"  I  trust  not,  Aggie,"  with  a  quick  flush  of  memory  all  over 
his  face,  that  made  the  brown  head  go  down  quickly  on  his 
knee.  "I  should  hope  I  haven't  brought 'back  quite  the  old 
Andrew  to  you." 

This  was  the  first  allusion  he  had  made  to  the  past  —  a  mem- 
ory that,  like  Enceladus,  could  never  be  utterly  laid  asleep,  but 
that  must  stir  uneasily  sometimes,  and  turn  in  sharp  pain  under 
the  mountain  that  the  years  should  gather  upon  it. 

"  O,  dear,"  thought  poor  Agnes,  "  how  could  I  say  that  now ! 
I'm  always  running  my  neck  into  a  noose  !  " 

Guy,  who  comprehended  the  state  of  things,  came  to  the  res- 
cue with,  — 

"What'll  the  governor  say,  Andrew,  when  he  finds  we've 
brought  you  down  among  us  ?  Whew  !  it  will  be  worth  some- 
thing to  see  his  first  stare  !  " 

"  I  went  up  to  the  house  straight  from  the  steamer,  and  found 
you  were  all  here  at  the  mountains.  There  was  only  just  time 
for  me  to  take  the  train  going  north,  and  if  I'd  gone  down  to 
the  office,  I  must  have  waited  another  day  ;  so  I  just  put  for  the 
depot.  I  thought  father  could  wait  better  than  you." 

"  And  it  will  be  so  nice  to  have  you  go  back  with  us  !"  dart- 
ing upward  her  brown  head  again.  "  Why,  I  begin  to  feel  that 
37 


434  DARRYLL    GAP,    OR 

the  dear  old  times  have  come  round  once  more,  and  everything 
is  just  as  it  used  to  be." 

Agnes'  words  seemed  fated  this  evening  to  touch  live,  quiv- 
ering nerves  of  pain.  They  thought  of  the  lonely  grave  by  the 
restless  Potomac,  where  the  brave,  alert  young  life  had  gone 
down  to  its  sleep  —  they  thought  of  the  girlish  face  and  the 
graceful  step  that  had  moved  in  their  midst,  and  the  places  were 
empty  now ! 

"  No,  Aggie,"  said  her  mother,  softly,  "  it  can  never  be  as 
it  used  to  !  " 

Andrew  leaned  forward.  He  saw  his  mother's  tears  falling 
quietly  into  her  lap. 

"  But,  mother,"  he  said,  "  you've  got  two  boys  left,  you  know, 
and  one  means  to  be  as  good  as  two  of  the  old  ones." 

"  She's  got  more  than  two,"  interposed  Agnes,  after  a  most 
emphatic  self-admonition.  "You  didn't  know  that,  did  you, 
Andrew  ?  " 

"  O,  yes,  I  knew ;  Rusha  told  me  all  about  that ;  but  I  didn't 
s'pose  you'd  be  quite  ready  to  count  Derrick  Howe  as  one 
of  us." 

"  O,  you're  altogether  at  sea !  Of  course  I  shouldn't  think 
of  ever  calling  him  one  of  ma's  boys ! "  an  indignant  repudia- 
tion of  any  such  possibility  in  her  tones.  "  Ask  Rusha  whom 
I  mean." 

Andrew  turned  towards  his  eldest  sister.  There  was  a  little 
lurking  color  in  her  cheeks,  but  for  all  that,  her  face  was  a  study 
in  its  glow  of  happiness  at  that  moment. 

"  What  is  she  driving  at,  Rusha?  " 

And  Agnes  and  Guy  laughed,  and  even  Mrs.  Darryll  seemed 
to  enjoy  it. 

"  Somebody  else  must  tell  him ;  I  can't ; "  and  the  suspicion 
of  color  in  her  cheeks  became  a  certainty. 

"  Yes,  Andrew,"  said  Mrs.  Darryll,  "  I  have  another  boy, 
and  we  have  come  already  to  feel  that  he  is  one  of  us,  and  to 
love  him  very  much  ;  and  Rusha  has  given  him  to  us." 

"Who  the  old  Harry  is  he?     Out  with  it,  so  I  can  shoot 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  435 

him !  "  beginning  to  see  light  at  last,  and  not  relishing  the  sight 
at  all. 

"  Bend  down  here,  so  I  can  whisper  his  name  to  you,"  said 
Agnes,  with  a  little  wicked  look  of  triumph  towards  her  sister. 

"  Now  I  say  I  object  to  any  privacy.  Trot  him  out  plump 
and  square,"  put  in  Guy. 

"  Well,  then,  the  name  of  your  future  brother-in-law,  An- 
drew Darryll,  is  Dr.  Fletcher  Rochford!" 

Andrew  sprang  right  up  on  his  feet. 

"Knock  me  down" with  a  feather!"  he  cried.  "Is  lie  the 
fellow?" 

" '  Tain't  anybody  else,"  answered  Guy,  while  Rusha,  quietly 
enjoying  the  scene,  thought  that  it  must  be  in  the  masculine 
nature  to  take  to  slang  as  ducks  do  to  water ;  and  then  she 
thought  of  Dr.  Rochford,  and  concluded  that  he  was  here,  as  in 
everything  else,  "  an  exception  to  all  rules." 

"  Well,  Rusha,"  said  Andrew,  surveying  his  sister  with  a 
variety  of  feelings,  difficult  to  analyze ;  but  I  think  pride  and 
pleasure  were  uppermost,  "  I  must  say  you've  won  a  trump.  I 
won't  admit  there's  a  fellow  in  the  world  quite  good  enough  for 
you ;  but  if  there  is,  Dr.  Rochford  is  the  man.  How  in  the 
world  did  it  come  about?" 

Nobody  could  answer  this  question  very  well. 

"  Come,  don't  keep  a  fellow  waiting ! "  cried  Andrew.  "Just 
show  up  the  facts." 

"  Andrew,"  said  Agnes,  in  a  little  grave  undertone,  "  it  don't 
do  to  joke  about  it  like  that.  This  engagement  isn't  just  like 
others.  It  all  came  around  through  dear  Tom,  you  know." 

He  was  sobered  in  an  instant,  and  there  was  little  more  said 
on  the  subject  then  ;  but  Rusha  met  her  eldest  brother's  eyes  a 
good  many  times  that  evening,  and  there  was  in  them  a  look 
half  curious,  half  awed. 

They  lingered  around  the  fire,  loath  to  leave  it  that  last  night ; 
the  sorrow  and  the  joy  of  that  summer  had  sanctified  the  cot- 
tage among  the  mountains  to  them  all. 

"  How  strange  it  will  seem,"  said  Agnes,  with  her  eyes  on 


436  DAEBYLL   GAP,   OR 

the  burning  logs,  and  a  great  seriousness  on  her  young  face, 
"  to  go  back  to  our  city  home  once  more,  and  to  all  that  noise 
and  gay  life  !  But  there's  one  thing  —  we  shan't  go  into  society 
this  winter,  of  course.  You  see,  Andrew,  we  haven't  got  on 
our  mourning  yet.  Pa  couldn't  bear  to  see  it,  and  we  concluded 
to  leave  all  that  until  we  got  back  to  the  city." 

A  long  silence  here.  At  last  Mrs.  Darryll  reminded  her 
children  that  they  must  be  up  early  to-morrow  morning  in  order 
to  reach  Littleton  in  time  for  the  down  train,  and  there  was  a 
long  two  days'  journey  before  them. 

"  Rusha,"  said  Andrew,  meeting  her  at  the  head  of  the  stairs, 
"you'll  tell  me  all  about  this  to-morrow,  won't  you?" 

"  All  I  can,  Andrew." 

"  He  don't  know,  though  he  may  think  he  does,  what  a  wife 
he  is  going  to  get.  O,  Rusha,  was  there  ever  a  sister  in  the 
world  like  you?  How  often  I  said  that  to  myself  over  the 
water,  after  I  got  that  first  letter !  " 

She  knew  then  what  he  was  thinking  of;  but  her  eyes  and  her 
throat  were  too  full  of  tears  for  her  to  answer  with  either  then. 

He  saw  that,  and  put  down  his  cheek  to  hers  softly  with  a 
"  Good  night,"  and  left  her.  Was  this  the  old,  careless,  bluster- 
ing Andrew? 

"  It  was  just  like  a  conversion ; "  Agnes  told  her  sister  when 
they  were  alone  that  night. 

"  It  is  one,  Aggie  1 "  answered  Rusha,  with  solemn  joyfulness. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  437 


CHAPTER   XLVI. 

THE  winter  which  followed  was,  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  the 
happiest  which  the  Darrylls  had  ever  enjoyed  under  the  roof  of 
their  splendid  home.  One  might  almost  have  fancied  that  dying 
blessing  of  Tom's  lingered  with  its  still  peace  in  the  family  at- 
mosphere, so  softened  had  this  become. 

It  is  true  that  two  places  were  silent  at  table  and  hearthstone, 
that  Andrew  carried  in  their  midst  a  name  tarnished  with  the 
sin  of  his  youth  —  and  this  the  world  took  care,  in  its  own  way, 
that  neither  he  nor  his  family  should  forget. 

Through  it  all,  Andrew  had,  of  course,  the  hardest  part  to 
bear  in  the  consciousness  that  he  had  brought  the  disgrace  on 
himself  and  his  household.  There  was  hardly  a  day  through 
that  winter  in  which  he  was  not  sorely  tempted  to  throw  up  the 
life  here  and  go  abroad  again  where  the  shadow  of  his  crime  did 
not  pursue  him.  The  thought  of  his  family  alone  prevented  his 
doing  this  ;  but,  no  doubt,  the  bitter  lesson  was  needed,  and  perhaps 
out  of  it  alone  could  come,  at  last,  a  worthy  and  stalwart  manhood. 

No  one  suspected  what  it  cost  Andrew  to  endure  the  rude  or 
covert  stare,  the  whisperings,  the  nudges,  and  significant  looks 
that  betrayed  among  strangers  and  acquaintances  a  conscious- 
ness of  his  guilt,  and  that  made  him  wince  with  the  thought 
that  he  was  marked  among  men. 

John  Darryll  tried  to  make  everything  as  easy  for  his  son  as 
possible.  The  reconciliation  had  been  complete  between  the  two, 
from  the  hour  in  which  Andrew  had  stepped  forth  from  the  midst  of 
the  family  group,  newly  arrived  from  the  mountains,  and  said,  — 

"  Father,  I  have  come  home  for  Tom's  sake,  to  be  a  son  to  you." 

Mr.  Darryll  had  taken  Andrew  again  into  business,  making 
a  show,  even,  of  trusting  him,  before  the  clerks,  with  the  chesl 
keys  and  piles  of  gold  and  bank  notes ;  but  though  all  this 
touched  Andrew  deeply,  the  necessity  for  such  display  was  a 
humiliation  that  galled  him  to  the  quick. 
37* 


438  DARRYLL   OAF,   OR 

At  home  there  was  never  any  allusion  to  the  past,  some  added 
delicacy  of  speech  and  manner  alone  proving  that  the  memory 
existed ;  but  then  the  family  bearing  had  softened  a  good  deal 
towards  each  other  since  sorrow  and  death  had  visited  the  house- 
hold, and  whatever  bitterness  and  chafing  Andrew's  soul  brought 
from  the  world  outside,  the  doors  of  his  own  home  shut  him  in 
to  an  atmosphere  of  entire  forgiveness  and  love.  Had  it  been 
otherwise,  he  never  could  have  gone  through  the  dreadful  ordeal 
of  living  down  his  bad  name  and  building  up  a  new  one  —  no 
light  thing  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances. 

No  question  but  he  was  greatly  improved,  thpugh  he  was  far 
enough  from  perfect  still.  The  old  nature  and  habits  lay  in  wait 
always,  to  spring  up  and  gain  the  mastery  at  some  unguarded 
moment ;  but  Rusha,  who  watched  her  brother  with  ceaseless 
though  unobtrusive  anxiety,  never  failed  to  discern  the  change 
that  had  been  wrought  in  him  —  never  for  a  moment  lost  faith 
in  its  permanency. 

Though,  as  Agnes  said,  "  the  family  wore  mourning,  and  did 
not  go  into  society  that  winter,"  there  was  plenty  of  life  inside. 
There  would  have  to  be  all  this  wherever  Rusha  Darryll  abode, 
and  Guy  and  Agnes  were  brimming  over  with  the  natural  vital- 
ity of  youth  ;  so  the  gap  in  the  household  did  not  make  gloom 
and  silence  there. 

Mrs.  Darryll  roused  herself  into  an  active  interest  for  the 
soldiers  that  winter.  Indeed,  Agnes  told  Rusha  that  "  Ma 
never  seemed  so  happy  now-a-days,  as  when  she  was  making  up 
a  box  for  the  hospitals." 

It  was  true,  sorrow  had  widened  the  nature  of  Mrs.  Darryll 
as  nothing  else  could  have  done.  It  was  ready  now  to  take  in 
"  other  mothers'  boys,"  where  before  there  had  been  small  room 
for  anything  outside  of  her  own  family. 

Rusha's  best  happiness  all  this  time  was  in  Dr.  Rochford's 
letters,  which  came  with  wonderful  promptness  and  regularity, 
considering  what  a  burden  of  care  and  work  was  on  the  man's 
hands  every  day. 

Dr.  Rochford  had  shared  the  general  surprise  and  disappoint- 
ment at  the  strength  and  resources  of  the  South ;  but  he  saw 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  439 

that  both  now  were  well  nigh  exhausted,  and  that  the  vast  fabric 
built  on  the  lust  of  'power  and  oppression,  must  fall  to  its 
foundations.  It  seemed  as  though  he  heard  a  little  way  off  the 
glad  bells  of  victory  ringing  in  th^e  new  peace  better  than  the 
old ;  and  j.ust  beyond  these,  and  haunting  them  as  with  an  im- 
mortal sweetness,  he  heard  other  bells,  ringing  in  a  new  day  of 
such  blessedness  that  even  his  steadfast  heart  grew  almost  sick 
with  impatience. 

And  over  this,  and  over  much  more,  dear  and  sacred  in  those 
letters  that  came  from  the  secret  places  of  the  man's  deep,  tender 
heart  to  the  maiden  of  his  love,  bent  the  face  of  Rusha  Darryll 
through  all  that  winter,  the  last  of  our  war. 

One  day,  about  the  middle  of  the  season,  Rusha  had  run 
down  stairs  on  some  errand.  It  was  growing  dark  in  the  front 
hall  already,  for  the  days  were  just  beyond  their  shortest,  and 
there  was  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  outside.  Rusha's  dress  had 
swept  round  the  lowest  column  of  the  balustrade,  when  some- 
thing—  a  figure  in  black  —  sprang  out  of  the  twilight  in  one 
corner,  and  rushed  upon  her,  fairly  griping  hold  of  her  arm. 

Calmer  nerves  than  Rusha  Darryll's  would  have  been  severe- 
ly startled  by  such  an  occurrence  in  that  semi-darkness.  She 
cried  out  sharply,  a  faint  terror  going  over  her  from  head  to  foot. 

u  Sh  —  sh,"  said  the  figure,  evidently  alarmed,  too.  "  Don't 
you  know  me,  Rusha?  " 

The  tones  were  strangely  familiar.  Had  the  fright  been  bss, 
she  would  have  recognized  them  at  once.  Though  she  did  not, 
they  quieted  her,  so  that  she  stood  still,  gasping  out,  — 

«  No,  I'm  sure  I  don't.     Who  are  you  ?  " 

"Look  and  see!"   the  long    veil,  that  had  evidently   1 
used  to  disguise  the  face,  thrown  back  with  a  swift  moven 

"O,  Ella  —  Ella!" 

"I  couldn't  bear  it  any  longer,  Rusha,"  the  swif 
trembling  out  of  unsteady  lips.     "  Nobody  else  must 
here  —  at  least  not  at  present." 

The   sisters  looked    in  each   other's   faees,  in  , ha,  »a,ung 
light.     The   tears   were   in  their  eyes- the   old 
mighty  in  the  hearts  of  both. 


440  DAREYLL    GAP,   OR 

"  I  have  so  much  to  hear  and  say  !  I  must  see  you  all  alone, 
Rusha,"  said  Mrs.  Derrick  Howe,  still  keeping  that  cautious 
undertone,  in  strange  contrast  with  her  old  imperious  manner. 

"  Come  into  the  parlor,  then.  We  shall  be  safe  there  on 
such  a  night ; "  and  she  led  her  into  the  great  rooms,  amidst 
whose  splendor,  Ella  in  her  pride  and  beauty  had  reigned  queen 
so  many  times. 

There  seemed  some  awful  Nemesis  in  her  coming  back  in  that 
secret  way  on  that  stormy  night.  Rusha  wondered  if  she  thought 
of  it! 

They  went  into  a  corner  and  settled  themselves  on  a  divan 
there,  their  hands  in  each  other's. 

"  How  did  you  get  in  here?  "  was  Rusha's  first  question. 

"  There  was  an  old  night-key  in  one  of  my  trunks.  I  never 
knew  how  it  came  there,  but  it  answered  my  purpose.  O, 
Rusha,  how  good  it  does  seem  to  be  at  home  again  !  " 

Then  she  laid  her  head  down  in  her  sister's  lap,  and  sobbed 
passionately.  Of  course  the  sobs  shook  Rusha's  very  soul,  but 
she  never  was  so  utterly  at  a  loss  for  any  words  of  comfort,  as 
she  found  herself  now.  She  could  only  cry  too,  and  mutely 
caress  her  sister,  thinking  all  the  time,  bitterly  enough,  of  Der- 
rick Howe,  and  wondering  whether  he  had  driven  her  sister  out 
to  find  shelter  in  her  own  home  on  that  stormy  nig^ht.  Rusha's 
strong  prejudices  hardly  did  the  young  man  justice. 

Ella's  first  remark  dissipated  all  suspicion  of  that  sort.  Her 
husband  had  left  the  city  for  a  few  days,  and  she  could  no  longer 
restrain  her  hunger  to  hear  and  see  something  of  her  family. 
They  had  been  visiting  some  cousins  of  Mr.  Howe  since  their 
return  to  town,  a  mouth  before,  and  Ella  had  managed  to  elude 
everybody's  observation  and  slip  out  of  the  house  and  get  into 
an  omnibus.  She  had  had  no  settled  plan  about  disclosing  herself 
to  her  family,  and  had  stood  frightened  and  shivering  in  the  hall 
for  ten  minutes  before  Rusha  appeared  and  decided  her  course. 

How  unlike  the  gay,  careless  Ella  of  six  months  ago,  seemed 
all  this  !  But  after  the  necessary  explanations  which  her  coming 
involved,  Mrs.  Howe  did  not  appear  to  be  inclined  to  dwell  on 
her  own  estate.  Her  eager  interest  seemed  to  centre  on  her 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


441 


family.  She  was  full  of  solicitation  about  each,  her  questions 
fairly  running  ahead  of  Rusha's  answers,  and  hurrying  from 
one  to  the  other. 

She  was  quite  overwhelmed  with  surprise  and  manifest 
delight  when  she  came  to  hear  of  Andrew's  return,  and  the 
change  that  had  been  wrought  in  him.  Then,  and  not  until 
then,  she  spoke  of  Tom's  death,  which,  all  that  time,  had  been 
uppermost  in  the  thoughts  of  both. 

"  O,  Rusha,  I  shall  never  forget  the  night  that  Dr.  Roch- 
ford's  letter  came  !  I  believe  that  my  husband  feared  I  should 
go  mad,  for  several  days  that  followed." 

And  Rusha  knew,  well  enough,  that  the  sharpest  pang  of  that 
time  must  have  been  the  remembrance  of  Tom's  last  visit  home, 
and  the  consciousness  that,  afterwards,  he  had  lived  just  long 
enough  to  learn  the  wrong  that  Ella  had  done  him  and  all  her 
family. 

At  last  the  servant  came  in  to  light  the  parlors.  It  was  quite 
dark  now,  and  Ella  sprang  into  a  little  alcove,  where  she  was 
secure  from  observation* 

"The  gentlemen  have  all  got  home,  Miss  Rusha,"  said  the  man 
as  he  went  out,  "  and  your  father  has  been  asking  for  you." 

She  felt  Ella's  start,  even  where  she  sat.  The  moment  the 
man  disappeared  Mrs.  Howe  sprang  up. 

"I  can't  see  any  of  the  others.  I  must  go  now,  Rusha," 
in  a  wild,  half-coherent  way. 

Rusha  put  her  arm  around  the  trembling  figure,  forgetting 
everything  else  in  pity  for  Ella. 

"  You  shall  not  leave  this  house  to-night,"  she  said,  in  calm, 
resolute  tones.  "  You  will  have  to  see  them  some  time,  Ella.  The 
sooner  it  is  over,  the  better  for  all.  Go  up  stairs  with  me  now/' 

"  I  can't,  Rusha !  My  courage  has  all  failed  me  !  If  it  wasn't 
for  pa  !  "  the  usual  bright  color  all  gone  from  her  cheeks. 

"  He  will  not  be  harsh  to  you  after  what  Tom  said." 

This  was  all  that  Rusha  dared  promise.  She  knew  her  father's 
inveterate  prejudices  so  well ;  ami  Ella  had  roused  all  these. 

With  those  words,  something  of  the  old  spirit  seemed  t 
back  to  her  sister.     She  lifted  her  head  and  said  she  would  go 


442  DAEBTLL   GAP,   OR 

up,  with  a  little  of  the  haughtiness  that  reminded  Rusha  of  the 
Ella  of  old.  But  this  disappeared  as  they  reached  the  sitting- 
room  door.  All  the  family  were  inside  ;  and  it  must  be  confessed 
that  it  was  a  humiliating  ordeal  to  meet  their  first  start  and  stare 
of  amazement.  She  drew  back. 

O,  Rusha,  I  can't  —  I  can't  meet  them  all!"  and  she  fairly 
wrung  her  hands. 

"  Well,  you  needn't.  Step  right  in  here  to  ma's  room,  and 
I'll  send  somebody  to  you."  Rusha  felt  that,  under  the  like  cir- 
cumstances, her  courage  also  must  have  failed  her. 

A  minute  later  she  went  into  the  sitting-room.  The  gentle- 
men were  established  in  various  lounging  positions  around  the 
fire,  looking  at  the  papers,  and  waiting  for  the  dinner  bell.  The 
mother  and  Agnes  sat  on  one  side.  Altogether  it  was  a  bright 
vision  of  home  comfort  and  luxury  on  that  stormy  night. 

Rusha  took  it  all  in  before  she  spoke,  thinking  of  Ella,  waiting 
out  there  in  the  dark. 

"  You  must  all  prepare  yourselves  for  a  great  suprise.  I 
hope  it  will  not  be  a  painful  one." 

She  stopped,  her  heart  was  beating  so  fast.  All  the  faces 
were  turned  on  her  in  curious  amazement.  Then  she  spoke  :  — 

"  Ella  is  in  the  other  room !  I  have  been  with  her  for  the 
last  hour."  The  words  were  an  electric  shock  to  everybody. 
Each  exclaimed  or  questioned.  Rusha  answered  her  father's 
" Is  she  alone?"  . 

"  All  alone."  And  she  went  on  to  explain,  as  briefly  as  possible, 
how  Ella  had  come.  Then  she  went  over  to  her  father  and  laid 
her  hand  on  his.  "You  will  go  and  bring  her  in,  father  —  for 
Tom's  sake,  you  know  ?  " 

It  was  so  dark  now  that  he  could  not  discern  any  figure  in 
the  chamber,  but  his  voice  sounded  very  kindly. 

"  Are  you  there,  my  child?" 

The  next  moment  Ella  was  sobbing  on  her  father's  neck. 
And  while  they  watched  and*  waited  in  the  sitting-room,  the 
door  opened,  and  John  Darryll  entered,  leading  his  daughter. 

At  the  desire  of  her  family,  Ella  remained  with  them  several 
days.  That  it  was  delightful  enough  to  be  back  in  her  own 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  443 

home,  none  of  them  could  doubt.  That  some  uneasiness  or 
anxiety  was  hidden  under  every  other  feeling,  they  all  perceived, 
though  she  never  acknowledged  this.  She  was  not  very  much 
changed,  after  all,  they  thought,  with  the  exception  of  somewhat 
less  high  spirits,  and  a  less  imperious  manner  than  formerly. 

Mrs.  Howe  discerned  plainly  that  her  husband  was  an  un- 
welcome topic  in  the  household,  and  that  he  would  only  be 
tolerated  there  for  her  sake. 

It  must  have  been  galling  enough  to  a  pride  like  Ella's  to  feel 
this ;  and  the  wonder  was,  that  with  her  spirit,  she  bore  it  as 
well  as  she  did.  She  spoke  of  Derrick  Howe  as  a  wife  would 
of  her  husband,  and  tried  to  make  a  point  of  his  affection  and 
care ;  but  for  all  this,  the  reconciliation  was  not  perfect,  as  it 
had  been  in  Andrew's  case ;  and  though  every  one  was  glad  to 
have  the  absent  daughter  in  their  midst  once  more,  still  each 
felt  that  she  could  never  be  one  of  their  own,  as  formerly  —  that 
Derrick  Howe  stood  between  them. 

The  Darryll  nature  was  persistent  —  its  likes  or  dislikes  ob- 
stinate things  always ;  and  Derrick  Howe  counted  without  his 
host  when  he  fancied  that  his  family,  his  position,  and  his  irre- 
sistible self  would  secure  for  him,  in  a  little  while,  a  cordial 
welcome  into  the  bosom  of  his  wife's  family.  Ella  knew  its 
temper  better ;  and  the  care  with  which  each  side  avoided  any 
allusion  to  her  marriage,  proved  the  strength  of  the  feeliug 

regarding  it. 

Only  once,  when  she  was  alone  with  Rusha,  did  Mrs.  E 
approach  the  matter;  and  that  was  the  day  after  her  return, 
when  she  had  learned  through  Mrs.  Darryll  of  Rusha's  engage- 
ment, the  matter  not  having  been  alluded    to   the  precedmg 
evening,  probably  out  of  regard  to  Ella's  feelings 

She  came  up  to  Rusha's  room  a  good  deal  netted  by  all 
had  heard ;  and  her  mother's,  and  the  whole  family's  pn- 
delight  in  the  betrothal,  must  have  afforded  a  contract 
own,  certain  to  chafe  sorely  the  haughty  spirit  of  Ella  E 
and  it  was  hardly  in  human  nature  that  her   congra Canons 
would  not  take  some  color  from  these  feelings.     Rusha  c 
understand  and  forgive  all  that. 


444  DABRYLL   GAP,   OE 

"  I'm  so  taken  by  surprise  that  it  still  seems  as  though  I  must 
have  dreamed  the  whole  thing  !  "  looking  curiously  at  her  sister. 
"  Yet,  I  believe,  after  all,  that  Dr.  Rochford  is  the  only  man  in 
the  world  who  would  suit  you." 

"  I  think  he  is,"  said  Rusha,  a  very  joy  of  gladness  in  her 
face  and  voice. 

Ella  saw  this  with  a  good  many  feelings.  If  they  were  not 
wholly  glad  ones,  she  herself  would  not  have  analyzed  them  ;  so 
we  will  not,  remembering  that  a  nobler  nature  than  hers  might 
have  found  it  hard  to  bear  just  what  she  was  now  doing. 

"You  love  him,  then,  Rusha?  I  never  expected  you  would 
admit  that,  of  any  man." 

"  I  do,  of  this  one." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Ella,  "  now  you  have  come  to  understand 
what  love  is,  you  may,  perhaps,  regard  my  own  conduct  with 
less  severity,  and,  feeling  what  you  would  bear  and  sacrifice  for 
Dr.  Rochford,  wonder  less  at  what  I  did  for  Derrick  Howe." 

Ella  had  gone  too  far.  Despite  herself,  there  had  been  a 
little  indignant  reproach  in  her  voice,  as  though  she  still  re- 
garded herself  as  injured  by  her  family. 

It  is  possible  Rusha  might  have  borne  this,  but  the  compari- 
son betwixt  Dr.  Rochford  and  Derrick  Howe  seemed  little  less 
than  an  insult  to  the  former.  It  made  the  old  wrath  at  Ella's 
conduct  leap  into  hot  life.  She  turned  upon  her,  as  Rusha 
Darryll,  when  roused,  could  turn. 

"  No,  Ella,  never  !  "  she  said.  "  My  love  for  Dr.  Rochford 
has  never  taught  me  that  I  could  bring  shame  and  grief  upon 
iny  family,  and  break  the  heart  of  the  mother  who  would  have 
died  for  me,  and  outrage  the  care  and  tenderness  of  all  the  years 
of  my  life.  The  love  of  Fletcher  Rochford  has  taught  me  some- 
thing better  than  that  —  thank  God  !  " 

It  was  hard  on  Ella,  I  grant.  If  Rusha  had  thought  twice, 
she  would  not  have  said  so  much ;  but  the  words  could  not  be 
recalled,  and  perhaps  Ella  needed  them  all. 

At  any  rate,  Rusha  pitied  her  the  next  moment,  when  she 
saw  her  sister  growing  red  and  white  by  turns,  partly  with 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  445 

anger,  no  doubt,  for  she  made  a  bitter  retort,  which,  in  words 
and  spirit,  were  quite  the  old  Ella. 

"  I've  no  doubt  that  your  love  is  something  superfine,  such 
as  ordinary  women  could  never  feel  or  understand.  I  should 
fancy  only  that  sort  would  suit  Dr.  Rochford  !  " 

She  was  frightened  after  the  words  were  out — remembering 

O  * 

too,  some  facts  which  she  had  learned,  and  some  hints  which 
her  husband  had  dropped  about  the  importance  to  their  own  in- 
terests of  a  reconciliation  being  brought  about  with  her  family — 
though,  to  do  Ella  justice,  her  seeking  them  the  day  before  had 
been  prompted  by  other  and  less  selfish  motives.  With  all  her 
faults,  she  had  the  strong  family  love  of  her  race.  The  fright 
caused  a  revulsion  in  her  feelings — she  did  the  one  thing  which 
was  sure  to  appease  Rusha's  wrath  —  burst  into  tears. 

A  moment  later  there  was  a  soft  hand  on  Mrs.  Howe's  shoul- 
der, and  a  tremulous  voice  was  saying,  — 

"  Ella,  for  Tom's  sake,  let  there  be  peace  betwixt  us ! " 

So  Ella  understood,  at  last,  that  a  voice  from  those  dead  lips 
made  a  plea  for  her  that  the  living  ones  could  never  have 
done,  and  that  it  would  not  do  to  count  too  far  on  that,  even 
with  her  mother,  for  Mrs.  DarrylPs  manner  showed  plainly 
that  she  had  not  forgotten,  though  she  had  warmly  received  her 
daughter. 

And  now  the  question,  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  unwel- 
come son  and  brother-in-law  came  up  in  family  conclave  to  be 
disposed  of ;  one  of  those  stubborn  facts  that  could  neither  be 
ignored  nor  got  around  —  it  must  be  met  face  to  face. 

It  went  sorely  enough  against  the  Darryll  grain  to  think  of 
welcoming  Derrick  Howe  in  their  midst,  as  one  of  them,  when 
each  felt  *that  he  had  done  the  family,  personally  and  collec- 
tively, an  unatonable  wrong  ;  and  there  was  no  doubt  that  Agues 
expressed  one  side  of  the  general  feeling  when  she  said,- 

"  Of  course  we'd  receive  our  sister  back  when  she  came  to 
us  ;  but  I  don't  see  as  that's  any  reason  why  we  should  make  up 
with  that  mean  Derrick  Howe,  who  stole  her  away.     /  never 
can  speak  to  him,  anyhow." 
38 


446  DAREYLL    GAP,   OR 

"  Bravo,  Agnes  !  That's  the  way  to  face  the  music  !  "  heart- 
ily indorsed  Guy.  "  Let  the  fellow  slide,  I  say." 

But,  though  these  sentiments  met  with  secret  sympathy  in  the 
feelings  of  all  to  whom,  they  were  addressed,  the  others  had 
sense  enough  to  perceive  that  it  would  not  do  to  take  counsel 
of  their  prejudices. 

It  cost  Rusha  an  effort  to  speak,  but  when  she  did,  she  spoke 
wisely. 

"  However  we  may  feel,  though,  it  only  remains  to  us  to 
make  the  best  of  this  matter,  and  have,  at  least,  a  surface  recon- 
ciliation betwixt  all  parties.  I  dislike  Derrick  Howe  as  much 
as  ever  ;  but  disagreeable  as  the  fact  is,  it  remains  one  still,  that 
he  is  Ella's  husband,  and  now  we  have  received  her,  we  must 
accept  the  relation  ;  and  the  sooner  it's  done,  the  better." 

Everybody  had  listened  attentively  while  Rusha  spoke.  At 
last,  with  a  face  of  most  unqualified  annoyance,  her  father 
said,  — 

. "  It's  a  mighty  bitter  pill  to  swallow,  but  I  think  Rusha  has 
the  best  of  the  argument." 

Mrs.  Darryll's  acquiescence  was  of  the  same  sort. 

"  I  suppose  it  will  have  to  be  so,  father ;  but  there  is  one 
thing,  that  Derrick  Howe  will  never  seem  like  a  son  to  me, 
never !  " 

And  Andrew,  sharing  the  family  repugnance  towards  his 
brother-in-law,  remembered  his  own  past,  and  kept  silence. 

In  accordance  with  this  reluctant  decision,  Ella,  when  she 
returned  to  her  home,  took  an  invitation  to  dine,  with  her  hus- 
band, at  her  father's,  on  the  following  day. 

Derrick  Howe  came  with  his  wife  at  the  time  appointed.  He 
certainly  never  took  more  pains  to  make  himself  agreeable  than 
on  that  memorable  occasion ;  but  I  think  he  felt,  at  the  close, 
that  his  success  had  been  indifferent.  There  was,  of  course,  no 
allusion  to  the  past,  and  there  was  an  effort  at  cordiality  on  the 
part  of  his  wife's  relatives,  but  it  got  no  farther  than  a  formal 
politeness. 

"  Hang  it !  "  he  muttered  to  himself,  as  he  handed  his  wife 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  447 

into  her  father's  carriage  on  their  return  home,  "what  airs 
they  do  take  on  !     I've  a  good  mind  to  cut  the  whole  concern  !  " 

If  Mrs.  Howe  overheard  this  remark,  she  was  wisely  obliv- 
ious to  it.  She  had  learned  that  the  elegant  and  fascinating 
being  for  whose  sake  she  had  forsaken  and  outraged  her  family 
was  somewhat  another  person  in  his  marital  relations  from  the 
one  he  had  been  in  his  courting  days. 

Derrick  Howe  had  never  been,  perhaps  he  never  would  be, 
positively  unkind  to  her,  but  she  had  discerned  already  that  his 
own  ease  and  comfort  were  the  paramount  considerations  of  his 
life. 

Imperious  as  she  was,  her  natural  love  of  peace,  which  was 
only  one  form  of  selfishness,  impelled  her  now  to  always  avoid 
a  rupture  Avith  her  husband.  And  the  honeymoon  was  hardly 
yet  over,  and  the  glamour  with  which  she  had  invested  her  lover 
had  not  wholly  worn  off.  But  when  her  eyes  should  be  opened, 
she  would  be  shrewd  enough  to  discern  where  her  power  lay, 
and  that  was  in  her  father's  wealth. 

So  long  as  there  was  a  chance  there,  whatever  he  might  liave 
done  under  other  circumstances,  Derrick  Howe  would  never 
push  his  wife  to  any  extremities,  or  give  her  any  cause  to  return 
to  her  family  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Ella  would  have  borne 
considerable  before  she  would  have  humiliated  herself  to  accept 
this  alternative ;  so  that,  although  time  was  likely  to  develop 
plenty  of  friction  between  the  two,  it  would  not  probably  end  iu 
open  disruption. 

Notwithstanding  his  chagrin  at  the  close  of  his  first  dinner 
at  the  Darrylls,  Derrick  Howe  made  a  point  of  presenting 
himself  at  his  father-in-law's  office  quite  frequently  during  the 
month  that  followed. 

The  truth  is,  his  own  resources  were  exhausted,  and  i 
not  do  to  make  the  honeymoon  interminable  which  he  had  been 
invited  to  pass  among  his  own  relatives. 

Derrick  Howe  was  at  considerable  pains  to  inform  his 
in-law  that  he  was  desirous  of  entering   into   some  1          ;M, 
before  John  Darryll  could  be  made  cognizant  of  the  fact,  and, 
of  course,  this  state  of  things  did  not  permit  any  assumption  on 


448  DARRYLL    GAP,   OR 

the  part  of  the  young  man.  The  broker  was,  at  first,  little  dis- 
posed to  render  him  any  aid,  either  of  money  or  influence  ;  but 
then,  there  was  Ella,  and  it  must  come  to  that  sooner  or  later. 

Mr.  Darryll  talked  over  the  matter  with  his  family.  His 
house  was  about  to  establish  a  branch  in  Paris,  and  wanted  a 
business  agent  there.  The  situation  would  not  involve  any 
large  responsibility,  and  Derrick  Howe  had  a  smattering  of  the 
continental  languages. 

So  the  situation  was  offered  to  him,  accompanied  with  a 
salary  which,  though  it  would  enable  the  young  pair  to  live  in 
moderate  gentility  abroad,  was  not  at  all  in  accordance  with 
Derrick  Howe's  luxurious  habits  and  ideas.  But,  for  want  of 
anything  better,  he  was  obliged  to  accede  to  his  father-in-law's 
proposition. 

Ella's  fancy  caught  eagerly  at  the  prospect  of  going  abroad, 
and  though  they  were  obliged  to  start  suddenly,  she  made  a 
point  of  displaying  herself  in  the  family  carriage,  at  church  and 
on  Broadway,  to  prove  to  her  thousand  friends  that  the  recon- 
ciliation betwixt  herself  and  her  relatives  was  complete. 

With  that  impending  separation,  the  old  affection  was  cer- 
tain, in  a  great  degree,  to  gain  the  mastery  over  every  other 
feeling. 

They  were  all  as  kind  to  her  as  possible,  and  it  must  have 
seemed  to  the  eyes  of  strangers  that  the  family  breach  was 
quite  healed. 

The  day  before  she  started,  Mrs.  Darryll  said  to  her  daugh- 
ter,— 

"  Ella,  my  child,  if  you  should  ever  get  unhappy  over  there, 
or  if  anything  ever  happens,  come  back  —  the  heart  and  home 
of  your  mother  are  always  open  to  you." 

Ella  was  deeply  touched  —  the  parting  was  so  near  now  ;  but 
she  knew  what  her  mother  meant,  and  her  secret  thought  was 
significant  of  her  relations  with  her  husband. 

"That  may  serve  me  in  good  stead,  some  time,  to  tell  Der- 
rick ! " 

Had  she  discerned  already  .that  her  chief  power  over  him  lay 
in  her  father's  "  money-bags  "  ? 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  449 


CHAPTER   XLVII. 

THE  summer  had  come  again,  and  the  great  drama  of  the 
century  had  been  brought  to  its  close  in  a  way  that  no  man  had 
looked  for. 

The  four  years  —  the  "  awful  years,  the  glorious  years  "  had 
passed,  the  years  of  a  great  nation's  sweat  and  agony  for  life. 

The  bells  had  rung  at  last  their  "  lo  triumphe  "  of  peace  over 
all  the  land  ;  and  in  the  pleasant  spring  days,  the  North  had 
held  its  long  jubilee,  and  fairly  gone  wild  with  the  sacred  joy 
of  victory.  But  suddenly  down  in  the  midst  of  all  the  vast 
rejoicing,  fell  the  darkness  and  crashed  the  thunderbolt.  The 
morning  hymn  of  the  nation's  baptismal  into  a  new  life,  was 
changed,  in  a  moment,  to  the  mighty  death-wail  which  shook  it 
from  sea  to  sea ;  its  white,  floating  robes  of  victory  turned  sud- 
denly to  sackcloth  and  ashes ;  for  the  brave,  simple,  heroic 
heart  had  been  smitten  down  and  the  evil  had  filled  up  the 
measure  of  its  wrath. 

But  all  that  had  passed  now,  and  the  nation,  shaken  for  a 
moment  with  its  storm  of  grief,  had  steadied  itself  again.  It 
is  not  my  work  to  write  of  that  time  nor  how  these  people  lived 
through  it.  I  hope  I  have  made  each  one  clear  enough  for  you 
to  conjecture  how  the  different  natures  would  be  likely  to  carry 
themselves  through  the  joy  and  the  grief  of  that  crisis. 

So  June  had  come  again  to  the  mountains,  and  with  it  the 
Darrylls  had  come  also. 

A  playful,  frolicsome  spirit  had  come  to  the  surface  in  these 
days.  They  seemed  to  break  loose  from  their  city  life  and 
customs  with  the  joy  of  wild  animals. 

We  can  never  count  on  our  moods,  and  this  was  a  passing 
one  ;  and  the  fun  of  the  young  people,  and  the  chasing  each 
38* 


450  DAREYLL   GAP,   OB 

other  about  the  verandas,  amid  shouts  and  laughter,  did  not 
last  long. 

There  was  graver  if  happier  business  on  hand,  for  the  wed- 
ding had  been  appointed  up  here  late  in  the  June,  Rusha  having 
settled  all  this  according  to  her  own  taste,  and  everybody  else 
finding  it  suited  theirs. 

A  quiet  wedding  it  was  to  be,  in  every  respect  —  only  the  two 
families  present,  and  a  few  friends  who  were  to  ride  over  in  the 
morning,  from  the  hotels,  to  witness  the  ceremony. 

So  the  last  evening  of  Rusha  Darryll's  girlhood  had  fallen. 
Angeline  and  Sicily  Rochford  had  arrived  the  day  before,  the 
doctor  having  been  enabled  to  accompany  them  as  far  as  Boston, 
where  Guy  had  gone  to  meet  and  bring  the  ladies  on  without 
delay,  as  business  detained  their  brother  in  the  city. 

The  meeting  between  the  ladies  of  both  families,  so  soon  to 
be  united  in  the  best  beloved  of  their  members,  was  one  of  the 
things  which  can  never  be  written. 

The  fair  face  of  Augeline  Rochford,  coming  out  thin  and 
worn  from  its  long  hospital  service,  was  invested  with  a  sacred 
beauty  to  the  whole  Darryll  family.  That  was  the  last  face 
which  had  hung  over  Tom's  dying  bed,  and,  gazing  on  it,  his 
eyes  had  grown  dim  in  the  shadow  of  death. 

That  evening  the  doctor  and  Andrew  had  arrived  together. 
Supper  had  waited  for  them,  but  this  was  served  in  an  informal 
fashion,  for  the  very  atmosphere  of  the  cottage  was  breezy 
with  the  stir  and  bustle  which  precedes  a  wedding.  Rusha  had 
stolen  out  from  all  this,  trusting  that,  in  the  general  absorption, 
nobody  would  miss  her,  for  her  thoughts  wanted  a  little  silence 
in  which  to  steady  themselves ;  the  old  life  she  was  leaving, 
and  the  new  life  that  was  coming,  bearing  heavily  upon  her 
heart  that  night.  So  she  came  out  on  the  veranda,  and  stood 
there  with  her  face  turned  up  to  the  sky  and  mountains. 

The  day  had  been  unusually  warm  for  those  latitudes,  and 
even  now,  the  air  had  a  soft  moistness  in  it,  and  the  winds 
which  rioted  among  the  thick  leaves,  made  a  pleasant  sound, 
like  that  of  waves  on  the  beach. 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  451 

Overhead,  the  stars  shone  betwixt  the  clouds,  which  spread 
out  gray  and  silver  fleeces  along  the  blue ;  and  while  Rusha 
stood  still  and  gazed,  a  soft,  crystal  light  began  to  pervade  the 
sky,  and  touch  with  its  mystery  of  glory  the  crest  of  pines  on 
the  top  of  the  opposite  mountain.  Just  over  this  rested  a 
black  cloud,  with  a  white  radiance  growing  along  the  outer 
edges,  bringing  out  in  sharper  contrast  that  black  gulf  at  the 
centre. 

And  so  the  light  grew  and  grew,  as  one  might  fancy  it  would 
in  a  vision,  spreading  down  the  mountain  till  it  reached  the  hem 
of  its  garment ;  and  the  girl  stood  there  by  one  of  the  pillars, 
watching  behind  and  below  in  the  darkness,  as  those  who  love 
God  watch  and  wait  in  the  darkness  and  griefs  of  this  world 
for  the  joy  and  rest  that  are  to  come. 

And  at  last,  over  the  summit,  came  the  moon,  with  a  slow, 
royal,  serene  movement,  while  the  clouds  wrapped  their  silver 
banners  around  her,  and  trailed  their  pennons  along  the  moun- 
tains, and  caught  in  drooping  folds  among  the  trees. 

Slowly  and  royally  the  moon  swept  on,  the  clouds  closed 
their  white-plumed  forces  around  her  path,  and  she  looked  down 
on  the  awful  mountains,  and  on  the  valley  asleep  at  their  feet, 
and  on  the  girl,  more  and  greater  than  all  these,  who  stood  on 
the  veranda  with  her  face  upturned,  and  a  solemn  brightness 
pervading  it,  almost  as  though  God  had  spoken  to  her. 

Her  thoughts  had  gone  far  away  into  the  years  —  to  that 
ni^ht  when  her  father  came  home,  and  told  them  he  had  sold 

O  ' 

Darryll  Gap,  and  they  began  to  realize,  for  the  first  time,  that 
they  were  rich  people.  How  the  old  scenes  and  the  faces  there 
crowded  down  upon  her ! 

And  then,  the  new  life  came  up  —  the  splendor,  the  pride, 
the  gayety  —  her  memory  leaping  along  scene  after  scene,  until 
it  paused  before  another  night  —  that  dreadful  one,  when  they 
first  learned  of  Andrew's  crimes.  Her  heart  grew  sick  for  a 
moment,  thinking  of  it  and  of  all  that  followed. 

And  then,  later,  how  the  days  flashed  before  her  !  There  was 
Ella's  marriage,  with  all  its  pains  and  bitterness ;  and  a  little 


452  DAER7LL   GAP,   OR 

beyond  that  awful  darkness,  when  the  news  came  of  Tom's 
death,  and  her  life  stood  still ;  and  she  went  down  into  the 
blackness  of  the  night,  not  knowing  what  a  morning  lay  close 
beyond.  How  God  had  changed  all  that  horror  and  agony  into 
such  blessedness  and  joy  as  she  had  never  dared  to  dream  of! 

She  saw  now  how  His  hand  had  been  leading  her,  alike 
through  the  serene  days,  and  the  dreadful  eclipses  to  the  crown- 
ing gladness  of  this  night,  and  a  verse  from  that  sweet  old 
psalm  of  Whittier's  sang  itself  through  her  thought :  — 

"  That  more  and  more  a  Providence 

Of  love  is  understood, 
Making  the  springs  of  time  and  sense 
Sweet  with  eternal  good." 

And  while  she  stood  there,  Dr.  Rochford  came  out  softly  on 
the  veranda,  and,  leaning  over,  caught,  before  she  saw  him, 
the  light  on  her  face. 

"  I  thought  I  should  find  you  here,"  he  said,  his  hand  on  her 
shoulder. 

"  You  must  forgive  me  for  running  off,  Fletcher,  but  there 
was  so  much  on  my  heart  to-night,  that  I  had  to  come  out  here 
for  strength  and  steadfastness." 

"  I  understood  all  that.  But  what  have  you  been  thinking, 
feeling,  while  you  have  been  out  here  ?  " 

"  Many  things ;  perhaps  the  chief,  a  thank-offering  to  God 
that  He  had  made  the  last  night  of  my  girlhood  such  a  one 
as  this." 

"  It  is  a  very  '  Laus  Deo,' "  he  answered. 

They  stood  still,  looking  at  the  moon  and  the  clouds,  and  the 
stars  among  them,  and  then  he  drew  her  arm  in  his,  and  walked 
up  and  down  the  piazza,  and  the  hum  of  voices  and  the  stream 
of  lights  inside  did  not  disturb  them. 

"  Do  you  suspect,  my  little  girl,  how  very  good  it  seems  to 
see  you,  now  that  it  is  more  than  four  months  since  we  parted  ?  " 

"  I  think  I  know  something  about  it ! "  a  little  quiver  of  a 
smile  around  her  lips,  losing  itself  in  something  grave  a  mo- 
ment afterwards.  "  How  much  has  happened  since  those  stormy 


WHETHER  IT  PAID. 


453 


March  days  when  you  brought  up  to  us  all  the  war  had  left  of 
dear  Tom,  and  we  laid  him  away  to  his  pleasant  sleep  at  Green- 
wood !  " 

"  How  much  !  The  nation  has  added  its  sublimest  chapters 
to  its  history  during  these  last  four  months,"  he  said. 

u  And  the  war  is  over,  and  you  have  come  again,  and  you 
will  never  more  have  to  hurry  back  as  you  did  that  last  time." 

"  Nevermore,  Rusha,  nevermore  !  " 

They  walked  up  and  down  the  veranda,  silently,  a  while,  and 
the  moon  shone  on  them,  and  the  stars.  At  last  the  doctor  said, 
looking  on  her  with  something  in  his  eyes  which  she  did  not 
quite  understand,  — 

"  Andrew  and  I  have  grown  better  acquainted  in  our  ride  to- 
day." 

"  I  thought  that  illness  of  his  made  a  strong  bond  betwixt  you 
and  him  long  ago  !  " 

"  It  did,  of  one  sort ;  but  this  is  of  a  finer  and  stronger 
kind.  O,  Rusha,  I  have  been  learning  to-day  just  what  a  dear, 
noble  little  girl  is  to  be  mine  own  to-morrow." 

"  What  has  Andrew  been  telling  you  ? "  with  her  quick 
glance  up  in  his  face,  bent  on  her  with  some  tenderness  and 
reverence,  which  even  she  had  never  seen  there  before. 

"  He  has  been  telling  me  that  you  saved  him  once,  and  how  ! 
O,  my  darling,  even  I  should  not  have  dreamed  that  heroism  of 
you !  " 

She  knew,  then,  what  he  meant,  and  that  Andrew  had  been 
confiding  to  his  elect  brother-in-law  the  story  of  Jane  Maxwell, 
and  all  about  that  miserable  time.  The  blushes  fairly  scorched 
her  face.  She  buried  them  in  her  hands. 

"  O,  how  could  he  do  it !  how  could  he  do  it !  "  she  murmured. 

The  doctor  drew  her  away. 

"  Rusha,  should  it  shame  or  distress  you  to  find  that  I  know 
the  proudest,  noblest  deed  of  your  life,  and  knowing  it,  love  you 

en  better  than  before  ?  " 

"  Anybody  would  have  done  the  same  for  that  poor  girl  —  at 
least  anybody  ought  to.  Do  not  praise  me,  Fletcher." 


454  DAEETLL    GAP,   OR 

"  I  could  not  if  I  tried,  dear  child." 

He  said  no  more,  then,  walking  in  silence  to  give  her  fluttered 
spirits  time  to  calm  themselves. 

At  last  she  spoke.  "  Fletcher,"  a  little  doubt  or  reluctance 
in  her  voice. 

"  Go  on." 

"  You  can  never  understand  what  a  comfort  it  has  been  to  me 
to  know  that  your  sisters  accepted  what  is  to  be,  so  heartily, 
and  have  given  me  such  a  welcome  into  their  hearts  and  home  !  " 

"  Did  you  doubt  that  for  one  moment?  " 

"  I  doubted  whether  they  would  be  willing  to  lose  such  a 
brother  as  you." 

"  That  is  a  graceful  bit  of  compliment,  Rusha,  but,  if  it  be  as 
you  say,  my  sisters  have  had  wisdom  to  discern  that  the  wife  I 
am  to  take  is  the  one  woman  in  all  the  world  for  me.  When 
Angeline  and  Sicily  first  learned  of  our  betrothal,  their  answers, 
though  far  apart,  were  alike.  '  She  is  the  only  woman  in  the 
world,  Fletcher,  of  whom  I  could  be  glad  to  know  this.'  " 

Her  face  flashed  out  in  sudden  light,  — 

"O,  did  they  say  that?" 

"  Those  very  words." 

Afterwards  he  went  on  to  talk  of  their  future,  and  of  his 
plans. 

The  home,  in  New  York,  where  the  Rochfords  had  lived  so 
long,  and  to  which  the  doctor  would  take  his  bride,  was  to  be 
arranged  for  their  reception  under  the  joint  auspices  of  Angeline 
and  Sicily,  whose  taste  in  matters  of  this  kind  was  universally 
allowed  to  be  exquisite. 

Angeline  Rochford  had  promised  a  brother  surgeon,  and  old 
classmate  of  the  doctor's,  that  she  would  not  delay  longer  than 
the  late  fall  the  wedding-day  which  she  had  promised  him  at 
the  hospital  where  they  had  worked  and  sorrowed  and  loved 
together. 

The  bridal  pair  were  to  sail  for  Europe  immediately  after  thq» 
wedding,  making  the  Continental  tour,  on  which  it  had  been 
arranged  Sicily  should  accompany  them.     All  this  was  entirely 


WHETHER  IT  PAID.  455 

new  to  Rusha.     You  can  imagiiie  with  what  greedy  interest  she 
drank  in  every  word. 

"  Then  we  shall  be  left  in  the  dear  old  home  together,  unless  " 
—  the  doctor  paused  here. 

"Unless  what,  Fletcher?"  the  eager,  half  peremptory  way 
that  always  amused  him,  and  that  he  had  purposely  waited  for 
now. 

-'Unless  I  conclude  that  our  wedding  will  not  he  complete 
without  a  bridal  tour  abroad,  also.  You  and  I  will  not  enjoy 
it  less  because  the  honeymoon  is  over?" 

Her  face  was  worth  going  far  to  see. 

"  O,  Fletcher,  do  you  really  think  of  that !  " 

"  I  do,  my  dear  child.  I  want  to  give  some  further  attention 
to  my  profession  at  Paris  ;  and  when  we  are  once  across,  there 
will  be  Rome  to  talk  of,  and  Germany  and  the  Rhine,  but  for 
the  present  we  must  be  content  with  Canada  and  the  Adiron- 
dacks." 

And  Rusha  listened,  clinging  to  her  lover,  and  in  the  still 
summer  night,  her  thoughts  went  afar  off,  and  walked  in  won- 
derful visions  of  that  world  across  the  sea.  The  doctor's  voice 
recalled  her  at  last. 

"  Rusha,  there  is  something  I  want  to  ask  you ! " 

"  Then  by  all  means  do  it." 

"  This  Jane  Maxwell —  was  she  a  girl  with  a  light  figure,  a 
pretty  face,  and  brownish  hair?" 

"  She  was  just  that,  Fletcher,"  her  cheeks  aflame  again. 

"  Then  I  have  seen  her !  " 

She  stood  still. 

"  Where  —  when  —  how  ?  " 

"  In  the  hospitals.  She  was  down  there  last  winter,  and 
worked  for  the  poor  fellows  with  her  whole  soul.  Many  a  one 
will  remember  her,  with  blessings,  to  his  dying  hour.  I  had  a 
cion  —  one  is  not  certain  how  he  comes  by  these  things 
I  suppose  my  long  experience  among  sicknesses  of  body 
_._d  soul  has  something  to  do  with  the  matter  — I  had  a  sus- 
picion that  this  girl's  history  had  some  secret  in  it  of  sorrow  and 
struggle." 


456  DABRYLL    GAP. 

"  O,  Fletcher,  this  is  the  best  of  all.  Thank  God  !  —  thank 
God !  —  on  this  night  of  all  others,  too  !  "  she  could  get  no 
farther. 

He  drew  her  a  little  closer. 

"  Yes,  dear  girl,  it  is  a  wonderful  reward.  Under  God,  you 
saved  her.  It  seems  a  very  dew  of  blessing,  breathed  from 
heaven,  upon  our  bridal !  " 

At  that  moment  her  father  came  to  the  front  door. 

"  Come,  children,  you've  been  out  here  long  enough,"  he  said. 
"  Doctor,  as  you're  to  have  her  for  all  the  evenings  to  come, 
you  must  spare  her  to  us  this  one." 

They  must  have  heard  him  inside,  for  in  the  stream  of  light, 
and  the  buzz  of  merry  talk,  one  or  two  playful  voices  lifted 
themselves  —  "  Don't  you  lovers  stay  out  there  sentimentalizing 
in  the  moonlight  any  longer.  We  just  want  you  inside." 

"  We're  coming,"  answered  the  doctor. 

Just  as  they  reached  the  door,  they  turned  a  moment  and 
gazed  on  the  night.  The  moon  looked  down  upon  them  from 
thin  clouds  that  floated  like  silver  hair  about  her  face,  and  the 
stars  made  the  sky  holy  with  their  beauty  ;  underneath,  like  a 
bride  adorned  for  the  altar,  the  June  night  lay  in  garments 
of  white  moonbeams. 

"  Laus  Deo"  said  the  doctor  again,  and  they  went  in  together. 


Stereotyped  at  th«  Boston  Stereotype  Foundry,  4  Spring  Lane. 


A    000106382     5 


